What Doesn't Kill You
by KingLeeh
Summary: Roman Reigns had already been in love once, and it cost him 3 years of his life, and a whole lot more.But he doesn't like to talk about it. Tony Kingston had a life before she lived with her brother.A life that cost her 15 years of her life, and a whole lot more. But she doesn't like to talk about it.When they meet, will they finally talk? Or are they destined to suffer in silence.
1. Chapter 1

"Leave it alone," groaned Dean, "It's a tie, not a noose!"

"It feels like a fucking noose," muttered Roman, tugging at the insulting piece of fabric that looked horrible around his neck.

"You're going to an office party, not an execution," chuckled Dean.

"Honestly, an execution sounds like a lot more fun than what you're dragging me to," mumbled Roman, enjoying his little tantrum, "If you were a normal guy, you would bring along a date,"

"You _are_ my date,"

"Like I would stoop that low." scoffed Roman.

Dean laughed, "Come on Roman, it's just for tonight! Paige is out of town and she would have my balls on a plate if I even thought about bringing another girl. And I can't really show up by myself…"

Roman sighed as he pulled his dress shoes on, "Yeah, you can actually."

"Pout all you want, bro, you're still coming."

Roman rolled his eyes, not very happy to be dragged along, but honestly, he didn't have anything better to do. He had hardly left the house in almost three weeks, and Roman knew that it was time to get back to the real world.

Roman hadn't been around. He had been in England for a long time. Too long. Far, far too long. He had left for the UK three years ago, following his then girlfriend, a woman that Dean truly despised, Charlotte Flair. To be honest, nobody liked Charlotte.

'Charlotte the Harlot' is what his family called her.

She was a bitch of epic proportions, and that was putting it lightly. But somehow, she had used her evil to get Roman to fall in love with her, and she had dragged him halfway across the world with her. Of course, that just made Dean hate her more. Roman would come back regularly, but would never stay for more than a week, because the she-devil would summon him back, and Roman's whipped ass would comply. Now, Dean loved his brother, he really did, but he was the biggest pushover to ever exist on the planet, and Charlotte took advantage of that.

Three weeks ago, when Dean and Roman's daily FaceTime came with the news that Roman was coming back to America, for good, without Charlotte, Dean could barely hold his joy.

"About fucking time!" he had yelled, "About. Fucking. Time!" He had jumped up and hit his head against the wall, promptly knocking himself out. When he came to, he woke to Roman's face on the computer, still laughing.

However, when Dean had gone to pick Roman up from the airport, he noticed what he hadn't seen on the computer screen. Roman was a mess. He was unshaven, slumped over, and not carrying a single bag of luggage. It seemed that merely taking a step after another was a huge effort.

For the following weeks, Roman hadn't left Dean's house, and he was slowly slipping into a state of depression. Dean had no idea what had happened, and he knew better than to ask. All he knew was that it had to do with Charlotte, and if that bitch wasn't thousands of miles across the ocean, Dean would have definitely given her a piece of his mind for making Roman feel like this.

And nobody wanted a piece of Dean Ambrose's mind.

But she wasn't here, and Roman was, and Dean couldn't let him wallow in his misery any longer. So he would just have to suck it up and go to the office party. Partly to get him out the house, and also because Dean didn't want to die of boredom alone.

Because what are friends for?

::::

"What a way to end off the summer, right Tone?" Kofi Kingston grinned at his sister as she tugged on her dress,

"A party full of old people and lame music? Oh yeah, I can't wait." Kofi laughed and threw his arm around Tony's shoulder, "Thanks for coming anyway,"

"I don't see why you couldn't bring a normal date," grumbled Tony.

"Hey, I'm not single on purpose you know."

"Yes you are!" she exclaimed, "Nina is all over you and you don't even now it!"

"Next door Nina? I thought she was a lesbian…"

Tony rolled her eyes at her idiot brother as they walked into the building that would host the office party.

"Don't worry," assured Kofi, "You won't be completely bored, Dean and Paige will be here any minute."

"Actually, Paige is still in England remember?"

"Oh... yeah."

Tony Kingston smiled at the thought of Dean and Paige. They were an unstable and dysfunctional couple, at best, but it was impossible to be bored around them. And even though Paige wouldn't be there on that night, Dean was a handful alone anyway.

However, as the night began, they were nowhere to be found, and poor Tony was forced to go along with her brother (who seemed just as bored as her) and suck up to all his bosses. An excruciating hour later, Kofi sighed in relief as he saw Dean walk in. He walked over to him

"Thank God, where the hell have you two been?"

Kofi's eyebrow rose when he saw who followed behind Dean.

"Paige?"

:::

Tony followed her brothers gaze and almost choked on her tongue when the sexiest man to ever live lifted his head, looking incredulously at Kofi.

"Do I look like Paige to you?" he sighed.

Kofi laughed, "Sorry Roman, it must be the hair, it confuses me."

"Well you're one to talk, lady locks." Laughed the Sex Pot… I mean, Roman… as he flicked Kofi's dreadlocks.

Dean rolled his eyes at their banter and then grinned at Tony as he pulled her into a bone crushing hug, spinning her away form the other two.

"How you doing kid?" he ruffled her hair.

Tony groaned and slapped his hand away, "I'm a lot less bored now that you're here," she admitted. She glanced at the Super-Hunk… uh Roman.

"So," she cleared her throat, "Who's your, uh... friend?"

"This is Roman," said Dean, "Where're the snacks?"

Tony ignored him, "And where's friend Roman from?"

"Oh, he just moved back here from London a few weeks ago. He's still looking for an apartment so he's stinking up my place for now. Have you seen the snacks?"

Tony nodded again in mock disinterest, still stealing glances at the Greek god… I mean, Roman.

She finally relented and showed Dean where the snacks were, and as she did so, she stole another glance, just in time to see her brother punch Mr Hot ass… I mean, Roman.

Kofi looked Roman over as Tony and Dean took a step away from them.

"I haven't seen you in ages man." He said.

"Yeah," Roman chuckled, "It's been a while. But it looks like you've been doing well for yourself though," he jerked his head towards Tony, "Your girlfriend is hot."

Roman was startled when a well-aimed slap connected to the side of his head.

"What the-"

"Don't call her hot!"

Roman scoffed, "What, you jealous because she has prettier hair than you?"

Another, harder slap.

"Dude!"

"That's my sister!" glared Kofi, "One more word and it will be my fist."

"God, uptight much? Now I remember why I didn't like you."

"That's hilarious."

"But seriously, that's your sister?I didn't know you had a hot sister."

And true to Kofi's word, Roman got punched.

"Eight years after High School and you're still fighting." Laughed Dean as he and Tony came over to the pair.

"Maybe if Roman didn't have such a big mouth…"

"Maybe if Kofi had a leash…"

"Hey, I thought _I_ was supposed to be the child." Dean rolled his eyes, "Now come along kiddies, lets go impress some old people. After the snacks."

"Nope," Tony held her hands up, "No way. I am not going back in there, I've had my share of boredom for the year, thank you."

"It's that much fun, huh?" chuckled Roman.

"Oh yeah. Just wait until the presentation. It's absolutely riveting. You three go on without me, I'll just stay here."

"As great as that sounds, I think I'll skip out too. I'll just stay out here with you." Smiled Roman.

"Uh, no." stepped in Kofi, "I think it's best if you come with us."

"I disagree," Roman shrugged.

"Come on now, you really think I'm going to let you stay out here with my little sister?"

Dean watched, his lips pursed and his eyes darting form one man to the other.

"Okay!" he said, his voice unnecessarily loud, "I know how to figure this out. How about we toss Tony up in the air and whoever catches her stays with her out here, yeah?"

A silence followed in which the other three realised that he was being completely serious.

"Okay..." said Tony, "I'm just gonna… yeah." She turned and started walking away from the boys, rolling her eyes.

Roman frowned at Kofi as his sister walked away.

"No!" the man said firmly.

"Dude," Roman groaned, "I'm not going to try anything, I promise! Would you rather she roams the streets? Alone? At night?"

Kofi snarled at Roman's logic, "Fine," he spat, "Go then." He and Dean turned into the building and Roman turned to where she had gone.

"Hey- hey wait up.", she turned and saw Roman jogging towards her.

Kofi's sister smiled, "You keeping me company?" she asked as he caught up to her and they started walking.

"Yeah, seeing as I managed to get past your brother."

She laughed, "Yeah well, he's just slightly crazy."

"Nah, he's just protecting his little sister."

"Well I'm not all that little." She scoffed

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, he thinks I'm like, fifteen years old."

"How old are you then?"

"Me? Oh… I'm 21. I'm guessing you're the same age as Dean and Kofi?"

"Yeah, I went to school with them. I think they ruined my childhood."

The girl laughed and Roman shoved his hands into his pocket, "So where are we going?"

"Well, there's this little coffee place about 2 streets down. They have great milkshakes, so I was just going to wait there."

"You're going to a coffee place for milkshake?"

"It's really good milkshake. Plus I'm their best customer."

Roman laughed again, "Of course, how silly of me to think otherwise."

"How very silly," she grinned. They kept walking, Roman's shoes tapping against the pavement and hers clicking. Roman looked at her feet and noticed her ridiculously high heels. He watched her breeze on as if she was wearing running shoes. He shook his head.

"What is it?" she asked as she noticed the stolen glances at her feet

"No nothing, just… how do you plan on walking a couple of streets in 5 inch heels? Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine," the girl chuckled, "It's not as hard as you'd think."

"I'd actually rather not think about it," sighed Roman.

"You know what looks even more uncomfortable?" she asked, "That tie."

Roman nodded and tugged at the offending article of clothing, "It's choking the hell out of me."

"Why don't you just take it off? I mean, you have no one to impress anymore."

"What if I'm trying to impress you?" Roman wagged his eyebrows and Kofi's sister laughed.

"You won't impress me much if you die from lack of oxygen." Laughing, Roman untied the rope like tie and unbuttoned the first button of his shirt. He took a deep breath, "Much better."

He tried to stuff the tie in his pocket, but the pants were too tight, seeing as they were Dean's. He sighed and turned to the girl (how did he still not know her name?)

"Can I put this in your purse?" He asked.

She took the tie and folded it before putting it in. Feeling the fabric, she frowned,

"Is this Dean's?"

Roman nodded, "Dean's full of uncomfortable things. Including this suit."

She laughed and Roman smiled,

"Well," he said, "since you're in a pretty dress with impossible shoes and I'm in an uncomfortable suit, the least you could do is take my arm."

Roman held out his arm for the girl to take and she laughed.

"Letting a stranger lead me down a street at night? Why the hell not?" Roman chuckled as she tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow.

:::

If anyone drove past Kritle Street that night, they may have looked twice at the strange sight of a girl in a green dress and outrageous heels and a man in an uncomfortable suit gazing forlorn at the closed door of an empty building.

"You said there was a coffee shop," frowned the hot tropo... I mean Roman.

Tony really needed to stop forgetting his name.

"There was… last year." Tony sighed at the look Roman gave her, "Come on, I knew they weren't doing that great but I at least thought they would last the year."

"Well how can they when their best customer comes only once a year?" Roman asked her, exasperated.

Tony laughed, "Okay, my bad."

A moment of silence passed and the Roman sighed, "Okay, we have at least another 2 hours to kill, and there is no coffee place. Now what?"

"Well, there's a McDonalds, but it's a 10 minute drive so…"

"Probably not the best idea,"

"Yea... Oh! There's a park. A little kids park just behind here."

"Are you sure?" Roman was sceptical.

"I'm sure. It's just through here." Tony turned to walk towards a road to the side of the no-longer-coffee-shop, "It's great."

"Yeah," Roman sighed, following her, "Assuming it hasn't been turned into a parking lot."

"You're hilarious." Tony rolled her eyes and ducked into the alley.

"Hey! You can't just run into an alley,"

"Why?" Tony popped her head back out, "You scared big guy?"

"Seriously?"

Tony winked and disappeared back into the alleyway.

The alleyway was dark. Darker than it should have been. Kofi's sister had taken just three steps into it, and then she disappeared in the darkness. Now, Roman wasn't scared, of course he wasn't, but he wasn't stupid either.

"I think I'll say out here." he called, "Try not to die in there, alright?"

The girl's voice laughed, "Oh come on, don't be scared."

Roman scoffed, "I am not scared. But my mom always told me not to follow strangers into dark alleyways."

Roman heard her laugh, but didn't see her, "Alright then, you can stay out there with the raccoons. I'll just- OW!"

Roman ran into the darkness, forgetting his wariness, "Hey! Where are you! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," came a muffled voice from somewhere to Roman's right. "I just kicked a brick."

Roman groaned, "I thought you were getting mugged or something."

"If I was getting mugged, do you think that the only thing I would say is 'ow'?"

Roman chuckled, "Fair point. Now, since you got me in here against my wishes, where are we going?"

"Hang on." Roman heard the girl feel her way around, pressing against the wall. He heard a creak, "Ah, there it is."

Suddenly, a door got pulled back, finally bringing some light into Roman's eyes.

"Sorry about te dark, I usually come here during the day." She stepped out of the alley, Roman following behind her and into a... children's park?

"Well, this is a weird place for kids," he muttered, looking around at the rusted see-saw and the paint-chipped merry-go-round. The only healthy looking device was the swing set.

"Yeah I know," said the girl, coming to stand next to him, "It was a lot bigger but then they got rid of most of it to make room for these new stores." She gestured behind her, "so kids don't come here anymore. Just me. Of course, I usually use the road instead of the alleyway. It's the only other place I could think of that could get us away from that party."

"You know," said Roman, looking around, "It's quite picturesque when you think about it. If you can look past all the haunting decay."

She laughed, "my thoughts exactly."

They sat on the swings, gently swaying back and forth, and talked.

Roman found out that Kofi's sister's name was Tony Grace Kingston. Tony found out that he was Roman Leati Anoai Reigns.

"Leati," she said slowly, "Is that Samoan?"

Roman was surprised, "Yeah it is. How did you know?"

Tony shrugged, "I like studying foreign languages. I think they're pretty fascinating. Plus, you look a little like these other Samoans I know." a thought came to Tony, "Hang on, you don't happen to be related to Jimmy and Jey, do you?"

"Yeah actually, they're my cousins, I grew up with them."

Tony smiled sympathetically, "I feel for you."

Roman laughed, "You don't like them?"

"Oh no, I love them. Really I do. But only like, in small doses. Maybe a few times a week. Plus, they always speak Samoan around everyone so no one knows what they're saying. Well, _I_ know what they're saying because I've learned the basics, but still, everyone else just gets really pissed."

Roman laughed again, "I'll be honest, I used to do that with them before I left." he sighed, remembering, "The joys of being bilingual."

Tony laughed, "Well, I know Ghanaian as well, but I use it for good, unlike you."

The two shared a laugh and then Roman realized something, "Hey, why have I never seen you before? I mean, before I left for England, I used to hang with Kofi a lot, and I never knew he had a sister."

Tony shrugged, "Yeah, well, I only started living with him about 3 years ago."

"That means you came just as I left."

"Yeah," said Tony. She subtly changed the subject, "So why did you move to the UK?"

"Oh... I went to study at Oxford." said Roman. He swallowed, it wasn't a complete lie after all.

"What are you studying?"

"Accounting. I'm done now though, I just got my degree."

"That's great!" smiled Tony, "I wouldn't have pegged you for an accountant though."

"Why not?"

"Well from what I've heard, you're Dean's best friend. It's hard to imagine a close friend of Dean doing anything as sane as accounting."

Roman laughed, "I guess I understand where you're coming from. But if you're friends with Dean you're friends with Paige, and It's not possible to be close to that psycho without losing a few screws."

Tony laughed shaking her head, "Touche'."

They talked for another long while about things that neither of them would remember the day after, but Roman didn't talk about his life at England, and Tony didn't mention her life before coming to live with Kofi.

Neither of them asked.

"I live with Dean for now," said Roman, "I don't want to get my own place yet in case I have to go back to London."

"Oh you're not staying?" Tony asked, doing a good job of hiding the small hint of dissapointment she felt.

Roman sighed, shrugging, "I don't know. Chances are, I'll go back. I have a lot of unfinished business to take care of. I should go back, but I don't know if I can."

Tony felt that he had said a lot more than he had intended to, and decided to let the matter drop, as it was obviously a sensitive one.

Their short silence was interuppted when Roman's phone rang.

"Hey Dean?" he answered.

 _"Roman! It's Dean!"_ came the shout.

Roman held the phone away from his ear. "Yeah, I know."

 _"Okay good, I didn't want you to get confused!"_

"Of course, Dean," Roman rolled his eyes.

 _"Listen! We're almost done, they're about to announce my promotion!"_

Roman groaned, "Do we have to come?"

 _"Of course! I want you to see the jealous disappointment of everyone I beat!"_

Roman sighed, "Whatever happened to good sportsmanship?"

But Dean had already hung up.

"Guess we have to go back," said Roman said, pocketing hid phone. He was actually quite disappointed to leave this dirty park with the girl in the green dress.

He didn't really know why.

Once they were on the other side of the alley, in which Tony stubbed her toe on the same brick, and walking back to the party, Tony couldn't help but ask.

"So you've known Dean longer than I have, right?" Tony asked as they walked.

"Basically my whole life," nodded Roman.

"So he's always been... strange."

He chuckled, "To put it lightly, yeah. You asking because of the phone thing?"

"The phone thing, the potato thing," she shrugged, "He has a lot of things."

"Potato thing?"

"The fact that he can't eat mashed potatoes." said Tony, "That's always kinda freaked me out a bit."

Roman laughed, "How did you find that out?"

"Well," Tony too a deep breath, "a couple of months ago..."

 _*flashback*_

 _"Dinner's ready!" grinned Tony gazing proudly at the plates of steaming mashed potatoes with roasted chicken and gravy and green salad on the side._

 _It looked (and was) delicious, and she knew it._

 _"We did good," Kofi said, gazing just as proudly, even though the most he had contributed with was taking the chicken out of the oven._

 _The company in the living room came rushing in._

 _"Ah, Kingstonette this is beautiful!" Ettore Langston, or Big E as everyone called him, smacked a loud kiss on her cheek as he grabbed a plate._

 _"I concur." Xavier Woods sighed happily and placed a much softer, less loud kiss on her cheek, "Absolutley divine."_

 _Tony laughed, "Thanks X."_

 _Dolph Ziggler rushed in and out faster than Tony could blink. God forbid he miss 5 seconds of that game._

 _Jimmy Uso came in next, "I love me a woman who can cook." he grinned._

 _"You wanna say that again, James?" came the loud voice of his wife from the living room._

 _"I was kidding!" he yelled back, "I don't love Tony, she's weird!"_

 _"Gee thanks."_

 _Jimmy shrugged, "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." He took his plate and Naomi's and balanced another on his forearm. Probably for his twin brother Jey, who claimed to be unable to walk long distances due to stubbing his toe the week before._

 _Paige snatched up her plate, "What the hell took you two so long I've been starving out there!" She took her fork and scooped a large pile of mashed potato into her mouth. "Heaven," she hummed, "Babe," she called to Dean, who was standing by the doorway, "Babe you have to try this."_

 _"I can't eat that." he said quietly. It was more his voice than his words that made those in the kitchen look at him._

 _"Why not?" asked Tony._

 _Dean just scowled at them and shook his head, "It's mashed potatos. I'm allergic."_

 _"You eat potatoes all the time," frowned Kofi, "Like, all the time. More than is actually healthy."_

 _Dean sighed, exasperated, "I eat baked potatoes, not mashed."_

 _"Babe, there is no difference between the potatoes, whether they're baked or they're mashed."_

 _Dean looked at her like she had two heads, "Paige, look at your plate! How can you say that there's no difference? Of course there's a difference! And that difference is evil!"_

 _There was a long silence in the kitchen._

 _"Dude-"_

 _"Don't you 'dude' me Kingston. I can't talk to you when you've got that stuff in your beard! In fact, I can't talk to any of you, you're all... weird mash eaters! And I don't want you crying to me when this stuff turned your brain to mush."_

 _And with that, he stormed out, leaving the bewildered trio behind._

 _*flashback*_

Roman laughed, "Ah, that sounds like Dean." he shook his head, falling silent for a moment, thinking about the times when he used to be a part of that group of friends and their always entertaining nights out- or in. That was before he had stupidly gone to England, following that-

Roman shook his head, remembering Tony's question.

"There is no actual reason." he started slowly, "Dean just doesn't... understand it. He doesn't get the concept of mashing perfectly good potatoes. In his own words, 'Why the fuck would someone grind all the potato'ness out of my potatoes, and still call it potato? That's some Satanic shit.' He also thinks they're a ploy to start killing all food because the government wants to starve us to death."

A look of 'what-the-fuck' claimed Tony's face, "He thinks the government is trying to kill us? Using potatoes?"

"Yep" nodded Roman, "He thinks the government hates us. It's also why he never holds his phone to his ear and always has to shout into it from a distance. He thinks the government is trying to steal our thoughts."

Tony laughed, "The phone thing was going to be my next question."

The two talked some more as they walked, and when they finally made it back to party venue, Tony was understanding Dean's lunacy a little more. Or perhaps she was just getting more confused.

With Dean Ambrose, maybe that was the same thing.

They walked in and immediately spotted Dean and Kofi staring each other down over a table that had only one more cocktail sausage.

"Hey guys," Roman smiled and grabbed the sausage, popping it into his eyes.

Tony laughed at the looks of hate the other two glared at him. He was saved from their wrath when a glass clinked.

"If we would all gather around please!" A man in his late 40's smiled at the room as they situated themselves loosely around him.

"It's time!" Kofi hissed, "My promotion!"

"My promotion," growled Dean. The two resumed glaring at each other.

"As you all know, I am Mr. Henry Cheng, the CEO of Cheng Media." A short round of applause followed, "and as most of you know. Tonight is a special night. Not only are we ending our summer off with a bang after such successful business year and finally taking this company international-" he was interrupted by another round of applause, "Tonight is also the night that I announce out new Marketing Director!"

"This is it," whispered Kofi, fixing his tie.

"This is it," hissed Dean, picking between his front teeth.

"Now, this is not a decision that I take lightly, and not one I make by myself. MD is a very high, very important role in this company. Now that we are taking our brand international, we need a face that will sell CM Advertising for all that it is worth.

And I will be the first to admit that some of our staff may not be the most... professional bunch."

He not very subtly glanced in the direction of Dean and Kofi, "And not very pleasant. Or all that reliable. If they show up at all," This time, he was openly glaring at the two men, who were avoiding his eyes. "Still, they are very, very good at what they do. And so, ladies and gentleman, it gives me great pleasure to announce that our new Marketing Director will be a joint position!"

The room clapped. Dean and Kofi did not.

"Congratulations Kofi Kingston and Dean Ambrose." he raised his glass at the two fuming men. The smirk on Cheng's face suggested that he had done this on purpose. Tony pulled her lips into her mouth, trying not to laugh, while Roman cackled into his glass of champagne.

"You two are two of the best and worst workers we have, and perhaps between the two of you, some work will be done."

The other workers laughed and smirked at the faces on the two men. Kofi and Dean had been major slackers, and were only still employed because they were great at what they did. The two opposites having to work together would create some great work, but the ride there would be hilarious.

A half hour later, Tony was following Kofi out to the car. She had hugged an irritated Dean and shared another laugh with Roman at the annoyance of the other two. Cheng Media was in for a ride, they all knew.

Kofi had gone to the car quickly and Tony trailed behind, Roman accompanying her.

"Well it was great meeting you Tony Grace Kingston," he smiled.

"You as well Roman Leati Reigns," she laughed. They stood awkwardly by the car for a few seconds, and just as Roman was about to step in for a hug, Kofi honked the horn. For a really long time.

Tony rolled her eyes, "Well, bye!" she smiled at him and hurried to the car. As soon as she was in, Kofi glared at her.

For a long time.

"What?" she asked, finally.

He just shook his head and turned to the road.

"What?" insisted Tony. Kofi just gave her another look. She sighed.

"We just talked, Kofi."

He scoffed, and said nothing.

"You know, I am not a child."

Still, nothing.

Finally, Tony rolled her eyes, "He's going back to England, so chill."

"Oh, good." Kofi said, suddenly smiling. "I don't like that guy.

Once Tony and Kofi had disappeared in the blue car, Roman turned towards Dean's hideous black truck. The man was leaning against the door, his hands making wild gestures in front of him as he muttered to himself. As Roman got closer, he heard some snippets of his conversation.

"And then I'll take the lemon and I'll squeeze the hell out of it. But then I'll get lemon blood all over the curtains, and Paige'll get mad and I won't get any for a whole two days... Yeah, scratch the lemons, I'll use oranges. She likes orange, orange blood on curtains won't make her that mad. Okay, good. I should also get a butcher knife... yeah, that'll look really great next to the lemons. No, not lemons, oranges! Focus Dean! And also- Oh, hey Roman."

Roman approached wearily, "Uh, butcher knives? Why do you need butcher knives?"

"It's August." he sighed, "Do you expect me to use regular knifes?" It took Roman a moment to realize that that was all the explanation he was going to get. Shaking his head, he opened the car door

"I had to ask," he berated himself. "Why do I always have to ask?"

Once they were in the car and driving, Roman noticed that Dean kept glancing at him, a wide grin on his face.

"What?" he asked eventually.

"Nothing." Dean snickered, still grinning.

Roman rolled his eyes, but the grinning glances kept coming.

"What!?" he asked again.

"Nothing." Dean grinned. Again.

They drove in silence for a minute, Dean still snickering and glancing, and Roman trying to ignore his friend's weird antics. Eventually, he couldn't ignore it any longer.

"Dean, why do you keep smiling like that?"

"I'm not smiling," he grinned, staring at Roman. "I'm not smiling at all."

Roman scoffed, and gasped as a tree came at them. Dean swerved at the last second, and still kept staring at Roman.

"Keep your eyes on the road!" he cried as they swerved around a traffic light.

"Like how you had your eyes on Tony the whole night?" Dean's grin grew wider.

"What?" Roman frowned, "i don't know what you mean."

"Come on Roman," laughed Dean, "You've been sulking in the house since you got here, and then you see Tony and all of a sudden, you light up like Chris Jericho."

Roman exhaled loudly, "I knew you'd read too much into this."

"And what is 'this' exactly?"

"Nothing! We were talking. People talk, okay?"

"Okay," Dean shrugged. He turned to face the road, still smirking. Roman glanced at his shit eating grin.

"It was nothing! We talked!"

"Okay Roman." He snorted.

"I'm serious."

Dean shrugged again, "If you say so,"

"Good," Roman nodded, "Because I do say so."

Again, Dean just looked at him, the shit eating grin returning, "Okay Roman."

:::

 **I thought I was going to behave and not post another story until I'm done with my first one, but this thing has been nagging at me to get out like a baby punching it's way out of a Uterus.**

 **...Sorry for that visual, I just wanted ya'll to see that I had no choice.**

 **Anyway, enjoy.**

 **P.S: This is my first main O.C. and I'm real excited to make up my own person. Her name is Tony Grace Kingston. She looks like Kiersey Clemons. I hope you'll like her as much as I do**

 **-Leeh**


	2. Chapter 2

It was at noon the next day when Tony slid into the booth of 'Cesaro's'. The café and restaurant that seemed to be everyone's hangout.

"Hey guys," she smiled at the other 5 inhabitants of the booth.

"Hey Tone, I ordered you your milkshake." Tony grinned at her friend as she slid the tall glass of half empty chocolate milkshake, "I got it started for you," winked AJ.

AJ Lee was a small girl. She was petite with a beautiful face and one would almost call her adorable.

Almost.

She had a reputation as somewhat of a 'psychopath' and had been taken to a guidance counselor quite a few times. The poor man had never been quite right after a couple of meetings with AJ Lee. On a good day however, all she did was drink Tony's milkshake.

"You know, AJ," the boy next to her said as she plucked a French fry from his plate. "Maybe you should order your own food instead of finishing ours."

Punk berated his girlfriend, but his smile made him impossible to take seriously. Punk, (whose name wasn't actually Punk, but he didn't really want people knowing that) looked like, for lack of a better word, a punk. He had short black hair which was always slicked back, revealing his pierced eyebrow and cocky smirk. To the few people who actually knew Punk, they knew that behind his mile-long mean streak and his brass arrogance, he had a sweet heart and was mightily protective of anything that he deemed worthy of protecting. At the top of that short list was his girlfriend, AJ, who at that moment was taking a bite of his burger.

As she chewed, she reached for the plate of chicken wings.

"Bitch, I dare you,"

Tony laughed as AJ's hand retreated from the plate that belonged to Tyler Breeze. Tyler was a tool. He had shoulder length straight, blonde hair and had the prettiest face in all of Florida. At least that's what he insisted. He was capital-G Gay, and had no problem letting the world know. Sometimes it would get him in sticky situations, but surprisingly, the self acclaimed 'Prince of Pretty' could fight his way out a any situation. In his own words;

'Honey, I can have a gang of homophobic hillbillies on their knees begging for blowjobs. Not that I would touch a hillbilly. Because... ew.'

"You can have my salad if you want AJ,"

AJ laughed, "I'm good Enzo,"

"Are you sure? Does anyone else want it? Please, take it."

"Eat your damn salad 'Zo, or I'm telling Mom."

Enzo snarled at his brother, "Cass, you're going to hell."

Enzo and Cass were twin brothers who were as different as night and day, inside an out. Cass was quiet around everyone except his closest friends, while Enzo was a loudmouth whether he knew you or not. Cass was 7 foot tall with dirty blonde hair that reached his back, and Enzo was barely six feet, with hair that changed every other week and a body covered in random tattoos.

Tony sipped at the remainder of her milkshake and listened as her friends bantered. As she sipped, she couldn't help but remember the night before.

That Roman Reigns was something else. Besides the fact that the mere sight of him burst her ovaries, he was actually a cool person. They had had hours of conversation that hadn't run dry at all. They had laughed and talked and laughed some more, never a dull moment.

How had this been kept from her for so long? By the sounds of things, Roman had left for England just as she had arrived here. How cruel could fate be? Sure, Tony knew that in reality, she had no chance with a guy like Roman. One night of good conversation in a park didn't mean anything, she knew. They had both been bored and Tony had been his only company, and she understood that, but still... damn!

It was too bad he was going back to England, if he stayed, Tony would be seeing a lot more of him. He lived with Dean, and Dean lived with his girlfriend Paige, who was Tony's best friend, and she went over there almost every other day. Plus, Dean, Paige, Kofi and Tony often hung out together. Roman would undoubtedly join them, if only he would stay.

"Hey!"

Tony was snapped out of her thoughts as someone clicked their fingers in her face.

"What?"

Tyler shook his head, "I've been calling your name, where did you blank out to?"

"What? Me? No, no, I didn't blank out, I just didn't hear you. What were you saying?"

Tyler frowned, suspicious. The others had the same look.

Suddenly, AJ smirked, "It's a guy."

"What? No!" Tony said, a little too loudly.

"A guy?" Punk frowned, looking at Tony, "A guy?"

"No!"

"It's totally a guy!" AJ squealed. "I know that look anywhere! Tony met a guy and now she's fantasizing about fucking him."

"What?" Tony was horrified, "Oh my God, no!"

Enzo gasped, "Oh, my, god! Did little Tony finally get some?"

"No!" she shouted, "Will you guys shut up!"

Tony's friends laughed at her reddened face.

"Alright, alright," Cass put his hands up in surrender. "Come on guys, leave Tony and her guy alone."

"Thank you!"

"If you tell us who it is," added Enzo.

"There's no one!"

AJ raised an eyebrow.

Tony sighed, "Well, there is, but it's not like that!"

Tyler squealed, "Oh, sweetie it's always like that. Now, what's his name?"

Tony glared at the expectant faces around the table, and she knew that they would never let this go. Giving in, she sighed, "His name is Roman..."

:::

Tony took a long sip from her milkshake as she finished her story.

"And that's all that happened, it was nothing."

A pause claimed the table until Tyler shook his head, "Doesn't sound like 'nothing' to me."

"Why the hell not?"

Enzo spoke up, "You spent hours together in a dark abandoned park while sitting on the swings. Are you tellin' me that you didn't do anything? Not even make out?"

Tony shook her head, "We talked."

"Talked?"

"Talked."

"Wow." Cass leaned back, "You are such a virgin."

"Cassady!" Tony shouted, "Don't say it like that!"

"Well, you are," he shrugged.

Punk held up his hands, "Hold on, am I the only one who heard the part where he went to school with Kofi?"

"So?"

Punk closed his eyes, exasperated, "isn't Kofi like, 26?"

"...Yeah.."

"Tony!"

Tony sighed, Punk's big brother complex was sometimes slightly very annoying.

"So what?" asked Tony, "We were just talking!"

"It's never just talking," he narrowed his eyes, "26 is way too old. Shouldn't he know better?"

"Well," Tony faltered, "He may, but I wouldn't know, seeing as he's not entirely in a position to think that he's in a situation in which he should have to know any better." Enzo, Cass, Tyler and AJ frowned, confused, but Punk read right through her indirect admittance that this Roman guy was slightly misinformed.

Punk frowned, "And why is that?"

"Because he thinks I'm 21."

"Why would he think that?"

Tony looked into her milkshake, "Because that's what I told him."

There was a gasp around the table.

"So he doesn't know you're 18?" Punk asked.

Tony shook her head in shame.

"And he doesn't know you're in High School?"

Again, she shook her head, unable to meet Punk's eye.

"You liar!" Tyler was giddy,

AJ giggled, "Oh, my, god, you lied to a hot Samoan? You go Tone!"

"No!" Punk yelled, "Tony, you can't lie about your age!"

"What does it matter?" she said, "He's going back to England soon, he'll never know! Besides, it's not like I'm going to see him any time soon!"

"Oh my god he's got a British accent too!" Tyler fanned his face.

"No," Tony sighed, "No, he's American. American Samoan, he's just been living there for the past three years."

"Dude!" Enzo slapped her arm, "He left when you got here!"

"I know!" Tony sighed, "And he's leaving again. So see, it's cool if he thinks I'm 21 for a few days. No harm done."

Before anyone could answer, Tony's phone rang.

She frowned at the unknown number and held it to her face.

"Hello?"

There was no reply on the other end. Tony frowned.

"Uh... Hello?"

Still nothing. Tony waited a few seconds.

"Is anyone there?"

Another few seconds passed, and Tony was about to hang up when-

" _Hello_?" came a deep familiar voice. Tony's lips dried, " _Tony_?"

"Uh, yeah," she managed to say without stuttering, "Roman?" Tony didn't miss the gasps that filled the table.

 _"Yeah! Hey, I got your number from Dean, I hope you don't mind."_

"No, no of course not,"

"Put it on speaker!" AJ yelled in a whisper. Tony ignored her.

"So, what's up?"

 _"Oh, I just-"_

Suddenly Roman was cut off when the phone was snatched from Tony's ear. She gaped at Tyler, "What are you doing?" she mouthed angrily.

Tyler tapped on the phone and Roman's voice spoke for the whole table to hear.

 _"-tie, and I should probably come get it."_

"Uh, sorry Roman, I got cut off for a second, what were you saying?"

 _"Oh, I was just reminding you that you still have my tie. And it wasn't even mine, so I should probably get it back."_

"Oh," Tony said, in slight disappointment, although she wasn't sure why she was even disappointed, "Yeah, I completely forgot about it. I've got the tie on me, but I'm not home right now."

 _"Oh, where are you?"_

"At this cafe' called Cesaro's."

 _"Hey, that's pretty close to Dean's. Why don't I meet you there? Anyway, I still owe you that milkshake, don't I?"_

Tony laughed in a voice slightly higher than her own. She tried to ignore the wild gestures her friends were sending her, "If I remember correctly, I'm the one who owes you."

 _"Nah, it would be my pleasure,"_ Roman laughed, _"So, I'll be there in about 10?"_

"Yeah, sure," Tony's voice only went higher, "I'll see you then."

 _"I'll see you."_

And the voice was gone. As soon as the phone beeped, signaling the end of the call, the hounds were unleashed.

"Oh my god, he sounds so hot!"

"If I had ovaries, his voice would've burst them."

"Why the hell do you have his tie?"

Tony was silent as their onslaught continued. Well, she hadn't been expecting that.

"Tony!" Tony started and turned to Cass as he shouted her name.

"What?"

"Stop blacking out!"

"I didn't-"

"Why the fuck do you have his tie Tony?" Punk crossed his arms. "I thought you didn't do anything. If you didn't do anything, why do you have his tie?"

"Geez, calm down!" she sighed, "He took it off because it was choking him and I put it into my bag, it's no big deal!"

"There's always an explanation isn't there..." he narrowed his eyes. Tony ignored him, rolling her eyes.

Suddenly remembering her conversation, she gasped, "You guys have to go!"

"We just got here," pouted AJ.

"Roman is coming! I can't be seen with you guys, you'll embarrass me. "

Enzo touched his hand to his chest, "Ouch. Really Tone, that hurt me, deep."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, you have to go!"

"I want to see what he looks like," AJ stayed firmly on her seat, "He can't be as hot as you say he is, so I wanna see for myself."

Punk narrowed his eyes at her, "Last time I checked, AJ, you already have a boyfriend. And calling other guys hot in front of said boyfriend is pretty rude."

AJ smirked up at him, "What, felling a little jelly, Punk?"

Punk scoffed, "As if. I just don't want to hear about how hot Tony's new boyfriend is."

"Um, A, he is not my boyfriend," huffed Tony, "We literally met about 12 hours ago. And B, the longer you talk, the longer you're here, and the more chance of Roman seeing you, so leave!"

"Why does it matt-"

"I said go!"

:::

 _*earlier that morning*_

Roman woke up expecting to be in Dean's guestroom with the ever throbbing pain in his chest. He was surprised to find himself on the couch. Surprisingly, he smiled, remembering the girl from the night before. Tony. Good conversation was a hard thing to come by these days. He realized that besides Dean and his mom, she was the first person he had actually had a conversation with that was longer than a few grunts and syllables. Plus, she was smart. And had really nice teeth. And her hair was pretty. And damn she had a great-

Roman's analysis of Tony Kingston was interrupted by his phone going off across the room. He groaned as he got up from the stiff sofa. He got through his stretch, scratch, yawn routine just as he reached his cellphone.

"Hello?" he yawned.

 _"Yo! Hey cousin!"_

Roman sighed, "Dwayne, what do you want?"

 _"Hey, that's no way to greet your kin now is it?"_

"All your references to family mean that you want something that I'm not going to like. So spill it so I can say no."

The voice on the other end of the line sighed, _"Alright Roman, you got me. I need a favor,"_

"Shocker," Roman rolled his eyes.

 _"And you can't say no, because you owe me."_

"Owe you? What for?"

 _"Remember when Granddaddy died?"_ asked Dwayne.

Roman frowned, "I think I recall." He said slowly.

 _"Well, he left you more money than he left me."_

"That's because he liked me better than he liked you."

 _"Exactly!"_ Dwayne exclaimed, _"And I just recently realized that favoritism in families can cause strife between the kids. And I'm feeling a little strife here."_

"We're grown men!"

 _"And this strife,"_ continued Dwayne, ignoring the comment, _"Is making me feel real insecure."_

"Please, I bet you're looking at a full length mirror as we speak."

Dwayne pretended not to hear, _"So you owe me. For the sake of my self esteem."_

"If you want money, that's stupid. You have may more money than I do."

 _"I don't need your money little cuz. I'm helping you here. You've been back in the States for 3 weeks now, and you need a job."_

"I _have_ a job."

 _"So you've spoken to McMahon about taking you back?"_

"Well..."

 _"Exactly. Now, what do you think of teaching?"_

"Excuse me?"

 _"Yeah, teaching. You went to college for it and everything."_

"I majored in English and accountancy," Roman rolled his eyes, "not teaching."

" _Perfect. That means you can become an English teacher."_

"Isn't your wife an English teacher? Why don't you ask her?"

 _"I can't,"_ Dwayne hesitated for a second, _"because that's who you're standing in for for two weeks."_

"…What?"

 _"Yeah, we're going on an extended vacation and she needs a sub._ " Came the nonchalant reply

"Then get one."

 _"That's what I'm doing!"_

"Hell no!" exclaimed Roman.

 _"But Roman, I already booked the tickets and the Villa, and I already told the school you would be there."_

"Dwayne!"

 _"Thank you so much."_

"Dwayne!"

 _"You start next week. I'll text you the deets."_

"What?"

 _"I love you cousin!"_

"Don't you dare-" But the line was empty.

Roman stared at his phone in disbelief, "No freaking way,"

At that moment, Dean walked into the room with a towel wrapped around his waist, and one around his head. He did a double take when he saw Roman standing there.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well… I was sleeping."

"Here?"

"You know Dean, I've woken up in your house for the entire three weeks I've been back here. You'd think you would be used to it by now."

"Yeah, well, every day I wake up hoping you're not here." Dean grinned as he made his way to the coffee maker.

Roman narrowed his eyes, shaking his head "Gee thanks, bro. I feel so loved."

Dean laughed, "I know. I am just full of love. Is that why you look so distraught?"

"What? Oh, no, I just got a call from Dwayne."

"Rocky?"

"Yeah. He says he got me a job."

"But you _have_ a job." frowned Dean

"That's what I said!"

"Dude, you're still supposed to go beg McMahon to let you back. You can't distract yourself with actual work!"

"I know," sighed Roman.

"So just don't go."

"I can't." he sighed again, "Dwayne already told the school I'd be there."

"School?"

"Yes. I'm going to be a substitute English teacher."

"A teacher? You?" Dean spent a long unnecessary minute laughing at his friends expense, "those kids will eat you alive."

"I'll be a great teacher," Roman glared.

"You know Roman," Dean sipped his coffee, still chuckling, "Your inability to say no is going to get you into shit one day."

"I did say no!"

"And yet you're mentally making lesson plans." Dean laughed again as he made his way out of the room, "Good luck with that! Maybe you can start paying some rent considering how you never leave!"

Roman glared at the spot where his friend had disappeared.

The bastard didn't even leave him any coffee…

:::

"So is this what you do when Paige isn't here?" Roman asked Dean from the doorway of the living room. He was coming back from his morning run and had found Dean half naked in the living room playing Guitar Wars.

"Paige never lets me do this," he sighed, "She thinks it's weird, and that's coming from someone who eats mashed potatoes." Dean scoffed.

Roman chuckled and shook his head.

"Did you just come back from jogging?" Dean asked, pausing the game. Roman nodded.

"You actually left the house? Voluntarily? Without being threatened?"

"Yes Dean, I left the house. I've done my share of wallowing for the year, it's time I get back on my feet, I think."

Dean grinned, "Finally! Fresh air. That's totally what you need dude. Now grab a guitar."

Roman grabbed it out of the box and plugged it in.

An hour later, he threw the stupid instrument onto the floor.

"Fuck this! This game is stupid!"

"The only one who's stupid is the guy who loses at guitar wars 7 times in a row!"

"You're cheating!"

"How the hell am I cheating?" Dean threw his hands in the air, "it's a guitar there are no cheat buttons!"

Roman shook his head angrily, "Fine. Fine then, let's swap."

Rolling his eyes and grinning, Dean took off the guitar strap and held it out to Roman, who snatched it angrily out of his hand, "Play it again." He snarled.

Dean sighed, "Roman, I understand that you're the world's sore-est loser, but-"

"Just play the fucking game!"

Laughing, Dean played the song, and Roman lost again. Another five times.

Despite his following sulking, Dean couldn't stop grinning.

His Roman was back.

Finally.

Grabbing two beers from the fridge, Dean went to sit on the couch next to where he was,

"Truce?" he handed him the can, "Not that I know why I have to truce just because I'm better at guitar ..."

Roman glared but took the beer, "Whatever man."

Laughing, Dean turned to the TV.

"... Why are we watching The PowerPuff Girls?"

"Well..." Roman stuttered. He didn't want to mention that it reminded him of-

"Dude, we can't watch the Powerpuff Girls. As a self respecting grown ass man, I won't allow it."

Dean changed the channel until he found a suitable program.

Roman scoffed, exasperated, "Scooby Doo? How is that any better?"

"It is. Don't question it."

So Roman didn't, and they watched Scooby Doo for the rest of the morning.

Much later, Roman got up to get another beer. He took Dean's can to throw it away and went to the kitchen. On his way back, he noticed a book sticking out of the open drawer. He picked it up and saw it was a photo album.

Curious, Roman opened it. He smiled when the first page showed a photograph of Dean and Paige before they were together. Roman remembered taking the picture. They were having an arm wrestling match and Paige's strong arm looked puny next to Dean's. She was losing horribly.

Dean saw a girl who refused to give up. Even in an impossible situation.

Paige saw a guy who refused to let her win.

And so they fell in love.

Freaking weirdos...

The next photo was of Paige and... Tony Grace Kingston. Paige was looking at the camera in disgust while Tony had a arm hugging Paige's shoulder and grinning a huge grin. Another picture was from almost 10 years ago. Dean and Roman were jumping off a cliff into the sea at a beach a while from where they lived. Roman remembered that day clearly. He also remembered that that picture was taken by... Seth...

The smile slipped off Roman's face and he kept flipping.

Tony Kingston was in lots of the photos.

"Dude, did you get lost or something?" Dean came from the living room, and saw Roman with the photo album. He grinned.

"Oh my god. I haven't looked at those pictures in ages."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Paige made it for Tony's 17th birthday, but then she forgot to finish it. I think she just slapped in every picture she could find."

"Her 17th? You've had this lying here for four years?" Roman sighed at the irresponsibility.

"Four years?" Dean frowned.

"Yeah. Tony's twenty-one, how could you guys forget a present 4 years later."

Behind Roman's back, Dean frowned, and then a sly grin came to his face in realisation.

 _Tony, you bad girl._

"Well," he shrugged, deciding to let Roman believe the lie for a little while longer, "You know how we don't care about most things."

Roman rolled his eyes as Dean went to the Fridge. He stared into it for a long time and then came out with a lemon.

He looked over Roman's shoulder and saw a picture of Tony sitting on the edge of a swimming pool, her feet dangling in the water.

"You've been staring at that picture for a while." Said Dean quietly. The slight smile on Roman's face quickly disappeared and he cleared his throat, flipping the page.

Dean grinned.

A minute passed in silence and Roman hit the table with his fist, "Stop staring at me like that!"

"You were staring at Tony like-"

"God dammit Dean I wasn't staring!"

"Okay Roman," he grinned.

Roman snarled, "I am not doing this with you again."

"Doing what? Talking about how you weren't staring at Tony?"

Roman shook his head, closed the album and cracked open the beer.

"I remember this one time I broke my fingers, so Tony had to open the can for me."

Roman narrowed his eyes, "That was nice of her," He didn't bother asking how he had broken his fingers.

Dean kept grinning, "You know, I have this motto that I live life by. 'If you lay your eggs in a single sneaker, you'll only end up with a meaty aneurysm',"

Roman frowned, and blinked. "What... what does that even mean?"

"I don't know" Dean shrugged, "I'm sure Tony knows. Tony knows a lot of stuff."

Roman clentched his jaw, "That's nice."

"You could ask her. Like, at a restaurant or something. Maybe. I dunno."

"Dean, are you really trying to set me up with Kofi's little sister?"

"Set you up?" Dean feigned horror, "Why would I do that? I'm just expanding your knowledge of English man."

"Dean, you need to-"

"Am I not allowed to help out a friend in re-learning the English language? Who knows what they've been teaching you in the UK!"

Roman almost spluttered, "I was in England! That is literally where English was invented!"

"Are you sure?" frowned Dean.

"Well... yeah."

Dean narrowed his eyes some more, "Are you sure you're sure?"

"Well... yeah. I guess. I mean, it makes sense."

"You know who definitely knows?"

Roman sighed.

"Tony knows," Dean smiled.

Roman glared.

A laughing Dean shook his head.

"Fine, fine. I'll stop talking about the obvious attraction you have for Tony."

That's when Roman left the room.

Dean found him back at guitar wars. He was tempted to mention how the only person to ever beat him at this game was Tony, but decided against it.

An hour later, Roman was showered and clean, except he wasn't wearing any clothes.

"So are you just gonna walk around only wearing boxers?"

"I'm air drying. Your towels are either too scratchy or too fluffy. I think I'm gonna have to go get my own later on today." Dean raised his eyebrows as Roman went to the fridge, "And I should probably also get some of my own clothes. And an apartment." Roman just kept staring at the fridge, pretending to look through it, but his brother knew better.

Dean smiled behind Roman's back. Ever since he had gotten off that plane sad and empty handed, he hadn't made a single move to getting his life back, and this was it. It had taken a while, but Roman was getting back on his feet and trying to move on from whatever had chased him away from across the seas.

Roman was still staring at the inside of the fridge. He knew that this was a huge step, especially after what had happened back in London. He waited for Dean's reaction. The silence told him that Dean understood, and Roman was grateful. He was surprised when he felt the other man's arms hug him from behind, trapping his arms to his sides. He could almost feel Dean's smile on his back, and Roman had no choice but to smile too.

"You know," grinned Dean, "I was wondering when you'd leave. You know Paige comes back next week, and I don't wanna worry about you walking in while we're having sex in the kitchen."

The smile vanished from Roman's face and he sighed, "There was a moment. And you killed it."

Dean laughed as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, "That's what I do, bro."

Roman rolled his eyes and closed the fridge door, joining Dean at the counter.

"Now that you're leaving your cocoon," said Dean, "when are you coming back to Raw?"

Roman sighed, "I don't know man. I don't know if that's a good idea yet."

"Well I'm telling you, it is. You need to get back in before you start over thinking it. Well, over thinking it more than you already are."

Roman sighed, "I left on bad terms, man. I don't know if McMahon will let me back."

"McMahon hasn't shown his face in almost a year. You can deal with him later. Hunter and Stephanie are in charge and it's not like we care about them anyway,"

Roman chuckled, "Yeah, we'll see."

"Well, you better 'see' real quick. Tomorrow is Monday after all. And RAW don't wait for nobody."

Roman smiled as he remembered the days when he worked on RAW with Dean. RAW was an underground wrestling company. Well, it was supposed to be underground, with a few people who would come and watch an make bets, but as years passed, people found out and it became unbelievably popular amongst the people of the area. Every Monday night people would fill up 'The Arena', where Men and Woman would fight and entertain. The Arena was in a town called Crenshaw, about 90 miles from Roman's town, North Trinity. It was a lot to travel every week, but this way, most of North Trinity wasn't even aware of the wrestlers 'side' job, and they could live without being bombarded by fans everyday.

Although Dean and Kofi were in marketing, and Roman was an accountant, and Paige was a journalist, the four of them all considered wrestling to be their 'main' job. They all loved it more than anything else.

Leaving RAW had been just another thing that Charlotte had made Roman do. And he had been stupid enough to listen to her. Roman growled, every time he thought of that woman, his stomach would churn. He had to distract himself.

"So," he cleared his throat, "What's the latest on RAW? What have I been missing?"

Dean understood that Roman was trying to distract himself from his thoughts, so he rattled.

He told about how The Authority was making everyone hate them by the day.

Seth Rollins had been the World Heavyweight Champion and the United States Champion-

"At the same time?" interrupted Roman, "That's never happened before."

Dean shrugged, "He cashed in the Money in the Bank on a match between Lesnar and Cesaro. Basically cheated to the top, and he's got the Authority to boost him up. It's not that impressive."

Dean continued.

Their former friend Rollins had then gone on to lose the United States championship to John Cena, but had retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Sting.

"He won against Sting?"

Dean nodded.

"Did he cheat?"

Dean shook his head.

Roman sighed, "Damn,"

Dean continued.

The most recent Pay Per View Event had been Hell in a cell, where Cena had lost his Title to Del Rio and hadn't been back to Raw ever since.

"Injury?" asked Roman.

"Or a bruised ego," shrugged Dean.

He continued.

Kofi's team, The New Day, were still on their winning streak, with the help of that stupid cheating Francesca.

"Who?"

"Their trombone. Her name in Francesca."

"... Her?" Dean nodded, and continued.

Dean had won his his match against Bray Wyatt. His victory had been cut short when the rest of the goons had come to beat him up.

"Dude..." Roman winced, knowing how a beat down from the Wyatts felt. Dean shrugged, "It wasn't the first time, and it won't be the last."

He continued.

Paige's friend Becky had won the Diva's Championship against Nikki Bella, and Paige had consequently run her mouth about how she deserved the title more, thus ending the friendship.

"Bro... why can't Paige just be nice to people? A simple 'congratulations' would suffice."

Dean shrugged and continued.

The Undertaker had lost to Brock Lesnar after a low blow.

Kevin Owens was still the Intercontinental champion.

Seth had beaten Kane.

"And... yeah. Yea, that's the latest. Survivor Series is coming up in a while though, so that should be interesting."

Now more than ever, Roman missed his job, and everything that came with it. Well, almost everything.

"Maybe I should come tomorrow. You know, just to sit in the crowd."

Dean scoffed, "As if you could just sit in the crowd. If you're not gonna come back to Wrestle tomorrow, then you'll probably just be put on Tony duty."

"Huh?"

"Tony duty." Nodded Dean, "believe it or not, she doesn't know about this whole Wrestling thing. Kofi made us all swear to never tell her, so on Mondays someone has to watch her and keep her from being suspicious about why none of us are ever available on that day and why we're always limping on Tuesdays."

Roman gaped, "She doesn't know? What? How is that even possible?"

"You'd be surprised how secretive Kofi can get when he has a reason. He's weirdly protective of Tony, he practically covered all the corners in their apartment in tape. But anyway, if Tony found out she'd probably yell at us for opposing World Peace or some shit like that."

Roman smiled, "She supports World Peace? How sweet."

"Really?" Dean raised his eyebrows, "That's all you got from that?"

"What do you mean?" asked Roman.

Dean tried to hide a smile, "Nothing Roman. Nothing at all."

"Well, since I'll be on Tony duty, I should probably get to know her a little better, don't you think? I mean, we'll be spending a lot of time together right? You know, because of you guys."

Dean's smile was harder to hide as he hummed his agreement.

"So.." Roman nodded his head, "You uh... you got her number?"

Dean had to hide his smile with the water bottle, "Uh huh."

Roman nodded, "Cool. Cool."

They sat in silence for a while, Dean smirking into his water and Roman tapping his fingers against his knees.

"So... can I take it?"

"Take what?"

"Tony's number. From your phone. You know...just so I have it. In case of emergencies."

Dean handed his phone to Roman and tried not to grin as he typed Tony's number into his own phone.

Roman nodded at the phone and handed it back to Dean. He resumed tapping his knees.

"So, it's good I have her number now," he rambled on, "You know, just to be on the safe side. I won't call her now of course, because there's no emergency. So why would I call? That would just be weird."

"Super weird," snickered Dean. Roman tapped harder on his knees, as if deep in thought.

Suddenly, he sat up straight, "Your tie!"

"My tie?"

"Yes, your tie! I gave it to Tony yesterday because it was choking me, and she still has it. I should get it back for you ASAP. That's an urgent situation, right?"

"Uh..."

"Of course it is. It's very urgent . What kind of friend would I be if I lost your tie? Yeah, I should call her. So I can go get your tie."

Dean was laughing silently at Roman's antics. They didn't surprise him, but to this day, it would always amuse him how Roman lacked any type of subtlety.

Roman held the phone to his ear, smiling. The ringing stopped.

 _"Hello?"_

Roman froze. What was he supposed to say to that? How had he all of a sudden forgotten how to have a conversation?

 _"Uh... Hello?"_

Panicked, Roman turned to Dean, "What am I supposed to say?" he mouthed.

Dean shrugged, "Just talk!" he mouthed back.

Roman opened his mouth but was interrupted.

 _"Is anyone there?"_

"She's gonna hang up!" Roman mouthed frantically.

"Then fucking talk!" Dean replied.

"Uh...hello?" Roman spoke, "Tony?" he almost slapped himself. Of course it was Tony, he was the one who had called!

" _Uh, yeah,"_ came the reply, " _Roman_?"

"Yeah!" Roman smiled, feeling less jerky now that he'd heard her voice. He had forgotten what a nice voice she had, "Hey, I got your number from Dean, I hope you don't mind."

 _"No, no of course not,"_ she sang. Holy crap she sounded like she was singing, " _So, what's up?"_

"Oh, I just... uh-" he looked at Dean with wide eyes. Why was he calling again.

"The tie!" Dean gestured frantically,

"Oh yeah, the tie! You.. uh... have the tie, and I should probably come get it."

Roman all but slapped his head at how dumb he sounded, and he saw Dean making a similar motion.

 _"Uh, sorry Roman, I got cut off for a second, what were you saying?"_

Roman swallowed, opting to sound less stupid this time.

"Oh, I was just reminding you that you still have my tie. And it wasn't even mine, so I should probably get it back."

 _"Oh,_ " Tony said, _"Yeah, I completely forgot about it. I've got the tie on me, but I'm not home right now."_

"Oh, where are you?"

 _"At this cafe' called Cesaro's."_

 _"_ Hey, that's pretty close to Dean's. Why don't I meet you there? Anyway, I still owe you that milkshake, don't I?"

Tony laughed, _"If I remember correctly, I'm the one who owes you."_

"Nah, it would be my pleasure," Roman laughed, "So, I'll be there in about 10?"

 _"Yeah, sure, I'll see you then."_

"I'll see you." Roman managed to finish without his voice cracking.

After Tony hung up, Roman dropped the phone as if it was burning and leapt to his feet.

"Okay then. I'm off to Cesaro's now. You know, to get your tie. From Tony. Who's at Cesaro's." He smiled a tight smile and nodded. Dean very desperately wanted to comment, but he knew that if he opened his mouth, Roman would go hide in his room again. Roman went over to the table and picked up Dean's car keys. He was halfway to the door when-

"Wait... I've got no clothes on. I should probably get some clothes." He made quickly to his room where he had a few clothes that he hadn't taken to England. Dean watched him leave, muttering about how he had to have pants if he was gonna see Tony again. You know, for the tie.

When he returned, fully clothed, Dean was in the same spot on the chair, basically biting his tongue off to keep from speaking.

"Okay, I'm going now. Don't worry Dean, I'll bring you that tie back." And then he darted out the door. Dean finally let out the laugh that had been building up. Damn, he knew Roman's first stages of having feelings for someone. He would be so deep in denial that even he himself would believe it. Dean stood up to go and play guitar wars again.

This was going to be very interesting.

:::

 **Hiiiiyy. Me again.**

 **Disclaimer: So as you've probably noticed from above, I'm gonna be using the WWE events of 2015. Since that is when I got the idea of this story and I don't have the heart to change it.**

 **So let me know what you think?**

 **Okay, that is all.**

 **:)**

 **-Leeh**


	3. Chapter 3

Roman spent about 5 minutes in the car fixing his hair before he went into the cafe'. He wasn't trying to look good for Tony, of course not, why would he? No, he just didn't want her to think he was a slob. That's all.

Roman finally got out of the car and made his way to the doors. It looked different to how it was three years ago, but that wasn't very surprising. The owner, Antonio, somehow felt the need to redecorate as often as he changed outfits.

Antonio was a big Swiss man. Ownership of this restaurant had been a dream of his since arriving in America, and he treated it like it was a particularly spoiled baby. The only thing he loved as much as his cafe was his career as a wrestler on RAW. Thinking of it now, so many people in this town were somehow involved in RAW, how did Tony not know about this? Roman walked into the restaurant, scanned the tables, and found her in a booth at the back. She already had a milkshake in front of her and was playing with the straw. Her hair was pulled back into a loose bun with escaped strands framing her face. A waiter went to the table she was sitting at, and Tony smiled up at him. He was apparently someone she knew, because they talked for a while, and Tony kept smiling.

Roman had almost forgotten what a nice smile she had. She was actually really beaut-

...

Roman shook his head. He should probably go up there instead of standing and staring like some kind of freak.

"You're here for the tie," he kept muttering to himself, "You're just here for the tie."

The waiter who was Tony's friend gave a quick goodbye before going back to serving tables.

"Hi," Roman said.

Tony turned to him an sat up straight.

"Hi," she grinned, "Roman. Hi." She cleared her throat, "Take a seat."

Roman nodded tersely and slid into the seat, "I see you already started without me." He grinned.

Tony giggled, "Oh, yeah, I was here with my friends a couple of minutes ago."

"Oh? Where are they now?"

"Oh just... around." Tony shrugged. "They had stuff to do,"

"Oh, cool." Smiled Roman.

"Yeah. Oh," Tony reached into her bag, "Here's your tie."

Roman smiled, "Thank you very much. I'm sure Dean will be glad to have it back." He shoved it uncaring into his jacket pocket.

Tony bit her lip, if this could get any more awkward...

Looking around, Roman realised that the quiet had gone on too long. And his awkwardness was beginning to rear it's awkward head.

"You know," said Roman, "I just realised, it's around lunch time right now. And we're already in a restaurant. So how about we... like... have lunch?" he almost slapped himself. That was not smooth. At all.

Tony smiled her agreement, and soon enough, a waiter came with two menus and placed them in front of them.

Roman opened it and chuckled when he saw that the deserts filled an entire two pages. Most of it chocolate related.

"Well, you can take Cesaro out of Switzerland, but you can't take Switzerland out of Cesaro."

Tony laughed, "You know the owner?"

Roman nodded, "yeah, we uh, we used to work together."

Tony shook her head, "I keep forgetting that you were here first."

"Yeah, so do I," admitted Roman. "I've been gone too long." He took a breathe, "and I decided that I'm actually staying this time."

"For real?"

"Yeah. I was actually planning on going apartment hunting later today."

"That's great!" Tony tried not to sound too excited. Not that she was happy. Of course not. Why would she be? If anything, she was nervous, because now she had to tell Roman that she wasn't actually as old as he thought she was. But Tony had no doubt that the moment she said the word 'eighteen' Roman would see a child and leave. And that wasn't a very appealing thought at all.

So maybe that particular bit of information could wait a while.

"Do you have any ideas about where you wanna live?" she asked.

Roman shrugged, "I don't know really."

"Well where did you live before?"

"I lived with Dean in that house. We basically grew up there."

 _Me, Dean and Seth._ Remembered Roman. But he left that part out.

"It used to be my parents house, but then they moved out to live closer to the sea, and they left us the house. But now that Dean and Paige have polluted the place, I'm gonna have to find my own apartment."

Tony laughed, "I know the feeling. I had to stay with them for a week when Kofi was away."

Roman smiled sympathetically, "You poor thing..."

The waiter came and the two quickly chose something to eat.

Tony wondered if Roman was a salad kind of guy, and then mentally slapped herself. Since when did she care what someone thought about her food choices?

She ordered another chocolate milkshake and a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich with fries.

Roman looked at the menu for a long time. Tony hadn't ordered anything meaty. Was she a vegetarian? Would he offend her if he ordered something meaty? No... he remembered her story from the day before, she liked chicken. Okay, chicken was good. Kofi also liked chicken. Was that a 'black people' thing? Would it be weird if he asked? Was that a socially acceptable question?

Roman opted for a grilled chicken wrap with fries and a bottomless coffee. Coffee calmed him down.

Not that he wasn't calm. He was totally calm. Totally.

He sighed as he handed the menu back to the waiter. That was stressful.

Once the waiter left, the conversation resumed. Surprisingly, there were no more awkward breaks in between. They hardly noticed when their plates were set in front of him, and the food seemed to be only interrupting. Almost an hour later, Tony's sandwich was hardly touched, and Roman's coffee had long gone cold.

They were interrupted when Tony's phone went off.

She looked at the reminder and sighed, "Damn."

"Something wrong?" asked Roman.

"No, uh... I just... I have to go."

Roman could almost feel his insides deflate from disappointment, "Oh. Oh, okay then. That's cool."

"Yeah, I'm sorry." Tony screwed her eyes shut, "it's just, I have this dance rehearsal I can't miss. My partner would murder me and I'm already late."

"No it's cool." Roman tried to smile, "I totally understand." He remembered Tony mentioning that she was a dancer earlier. It had been cool at the time, but now he found it annoying as hell for cutting into their date-

Date?

When had this become a date?

It didn't. It wasn't. It wasn't a date. Nope, not at all.

Tony waved over the waiter and asked to have her food wrapped up. Roman smiled, she didn't like to waste. Wasn't she such a sweetheart?

His smile stopped however, when she reached for her wallet.

"No, no, it's cool. I've got it." He insisted.

Tony shook her head, "I have to at least pay for my half."

Roman sighed, "Tony, just let me pay. Really it's nothing."

"If you keep arguing, I'll just pay the whole bill."

Roman chuckled, "that is so emasculating."

Tony smiled triumphantly as she placed the bills on the table.

"Thank you for lunch, by the way." She grinned as the waiter came back with her food.

"It was my pleasure," Roman replied. For a moment, Tony stood there. Should she give him a hug? Should she wave? How did one end off a non-date? Once the silence was almost too long, she just smiled.

"Okay, bye,"

"Uh, bye." Roman smiled back, and Tony scurried off.

He watched her leave and he waved when she turned around. As he turned back to his meal, he tried to hide a smile that he didn't remember putting there.

:::

"You're late!" Tony's dance partner shouted at her as she walked into the studio.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry!" she hurried to where he was stretching by the bar and quickly changed into her ballet shoes.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" Tony asked, confused.

"Look at that," he pointed at her shoes, "Did you tape your toes?"

"Uh..."

"What about the padding on the pointe?"

"Well..."

"And the powder?"

"... I,"

"Tony, are you trying to break your toes?"

"No! I'm just a little distracted is all!"

"No shit!"

Tony sighed, bending down to take off her shoes and redo them.

"Oh for crying out loud," he threw his hands up, exasperated, "Let me just do it."

Tony stretched her feet towards him as he sat down.

"You'd think that after so long, you would know how to tie your own laces," He sighed.

Tony just laughed at him

He finished fixing he shoes and they stood to stretch. Tony had been dancing with her partner for a year now, and he was about the most secretive person she knew. They had grown to be really good friends and she had a feeling that she knew him more than anyone else did, despite the fact that she hardly knew anything at all.

She didn't know what his job was, she didn't know anything about his life before they met, or even after they met a couple of years ago when Tony was new to town and Kofi had suggested him as her tutor. He was a teacher by profession, but later learned that he wasn't a people person and couldn't be trusted to be in charge of children. Besides that, she knew next to nothing about him. But she knew that he loved to dance almost as much as she did.

They had met a few years ago and she knew was that he preferred hotdogs over burgers, she knew that the snorted when he laughed too much, she knew that he was bisexual but hadn't had a real relationship in a few years. Tony also knew that he was scared of Cinder Blocks. For some reason, the sight of them brought on some kind of memory and he would go white and wouldn't talk for hours after that. She also knew that he was alone.

He claimed to have done something terrible in his past that lost him his friends and family.

Tony could tell that he regretted it with his entire being.

Many a time, Tony had told him to just apologies, and he would assure her that some things could never be forgiven.

He was a troubled soul, was her friend, Seth Rollins. Very troubled indeed.

"So what's first today?" she asked.

Seth went to the stereo on the floor and put in a CD.

30 minutes later, Seth bent over, his hands on his knees.

"Okay," he breathed heavily, "Okay, time out."

"What?" Tony shook her head, "Come on, we've only gone through 4. And that's only cause you wanted to do 'Build a Home' twice."

"Yeah, but I'm tired!" Seth grabbed his water bottle, "I'm not as young as you."

"You're only 25!" Tony rolled her eyes, "Come on, we're not done here."

"Just two minutes." Seth sat down, "I need a break."

Tony sighed and turned off the music, "okay, what's eating you? You never get tired."

Seth shrugged, "I don't know. My knee's been acting up."

Tony sat down next to him, "Again? Let me see."

She knelt down in front of him and lightly brushed her hands over the muscled joint.

"You need to loosen up, Seth. Your muscles are real tight."

He shrugged, "Yeah, easier said than done."

"What's stressing you?"

"Just the usual,"

His vague answer was no surprise to Tony. She just sighed and continued massaging his knee. Seth melted into the touch.

They sat in silence as Seth closed his eyes and tried to get his mind off things, and Tony worked on his knee.

"Done," she smiled after a few minutes.

"You know..." Seth said, "My neck's been kinda bothering me for a while." He smiled sweetly, "You mind?"

Rolling her eyes, Tony went behind him and started on his muscular neck.

She had magical hands.

He wished she could help loosen him up after RAW sometimes, but he could never ask, or she'd get suspicious about why he was always so stiff and sore on Tuesdays, and he did not want Kofi on his ass about that, thank you very much.

Seth sighed as Tony continued kneading her fingers into his taut skin.

To this day, it still surprised him that she and he and were so close, considering how close she was to Dean.

From what he heard from Tony, Dean was like a brother to her. And Seth knew from experience that Dean took being a brother very seriously. He also knew that if Dean ever found out that the 'Seth' that Tony danced with was none other than the brother that had betrayed him, he would do everything in his power to keep Tony away. Seth didn't exactly blame him for thinking that he would hurt Tony, just like he had hurt Dean and Roman, but he wouldn't risk it. Tony was his best friend. His only friend. So if he had to lie and hide to keep her, that's what he would do.

He noticed that she was humming a song that he didn't recognize.

"Well what's got you all happy and humming?" he asked.

"Nothing," she sang.

Seth scoffed, "uh huh, I bet it's nothing."

"It's nothing," she sang again.

Seth smirked, "Alright, what's his name?"

Tony laughed and let go of his neck, she went to sit in front of him, "Why does it always have to be about a guy?"

"It's a guy," he grinned, "It's always a guy."

Tony tried to deny it again, but ended up smiling.

"Ah, you see! Is the guy the reason you were late?"

She nodded, "It wasn't a date though. I just had his tie and he came to get it and we ended up having lunch. That's all."

"You had his tie?" Seth grinned, "That's a key article of clothing. Tony, did you put out already? Who woulda thunk it?"

"No!" she slapped his arm, "No, I didn't! I just had his tie and that's it!"

"Why the hell did you have his tie?"

Tony sighed, "he was wearing a suit. He had an uncomfortable tie, so he took it off and put it into my purse."

"Hold up!" Seth shot up, "You went to a black tie event without me? Tony, you know how much I love dressing up!"

"It was Kofi's office party!" Tony giggled, "hardly a black tie event."

"Wait, so you met the guy at Kofi's office party? I thought everyone there was over 40."

"Well they are. But this guy is only 26."

" _Only_ 26?"

Tony sighed, waiting for the onslaught.

"Tony that's too old for you!"

"He's only a year older than you."

"Yeah, well I'm not dating you! It's different."

"I'm not dating him either!"

"You just came back from a date."

"It wasn't a date!"

Seth frowned, shaking his head, "I can't believe you're going for a sugar daddy."

Tony couldn't help but burst into laughter, "Twenty six hardly qualifies as 'sugar daddy' Seth! And even if it did, it doesn't matter because we are not dating!"

Seth just shook his head and stood up. He pulled Tony up with him.

"Well dating or not, I wanna meet this guy."

Tony scoffed as she turned on the music and they started a light ballet.

"Hell no. You'll just steal him."

Seth faked a gasp, "Steal? Me? Tony I would never."

"Oh yes you would. Just like you stole Sami from me."

"I was doing you a favour," Seth laughed, remembering, "There wasn't a straight bone in Sami's body, and I didn't want you to find out the hard way."

Tony rolled her eyes as they kept dancing.

"Besides," continued Seth, "I just want to see for myself what could be so fascinating about this guy that you're willing to date a dinosaur.

"Firstly, I'm not dating him. Secondly, he's only 26. And thirdly, he is the most beautiful human I have ever seen. Plus he's great guy. Like, really great."

Seth pouted, "I thought I was the most beautiful human you'd ever seen."

Tony laughed, "Don't be jelly, pretty boy. But I have to tell you, Roman Reigns has got you beat."

The mirth in Seth's eyes died and he stopped dancing almost immediately. His eyes widened as he stared at Tony.

"Roman?"

"Yeah. That's his name. Do you know him? He used to live here before he went to England."

"Roman's back?"

Seth was shocked to say the least. His first reaction was, ' _Why didn't he tell me he was coming back?'_

And then, ' _Oh yeah, he hates me. How could I forget.'_

"Seth, you okay?" Tony asked, concerned.

"Well, uh... yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Just... surprised is all."

"How do you know Roman?"

"We used to work together," he shrugged, "That's all."

Tony nodded slowly, knowing that she wasn't getting the full story.

"Uh, if you guys go out again," Seth said as they resumed their dance, "It would probably be good if you didn't mention my name. At all."

Tony frowned and then sighed.

"The same way I can't mention you to Dean?"

"Yeah," Seth nodded, "It's for the best."

Tony sighed and nodded, knowing better than to argue or to dig for answers. Seth's secrets were locked in so deep, she doubted anyone could get to them. Not even her.


	4. Chapter 4

"How's this one?" Dean circled an ad, "One bedroom apartment. 1 kitchen, 1 bathroom, balcony. That sounds pretty good."

Roman shrugged, "I don't like that street. Full of weirdo's."

"But that's where I used to live."

"Exactly my point."

"I'm gonna put a question mark," Dean shrugged.

Roman's eyes roamed the newspaper, "Oh, here's one! Three Bedroom house. One en suite bathroom, one regular bathroom. Kitchen, undercover porch, garden... I like it."

"Yeah," Dean drawled, "If you're a family of five. That's too much. Scratch it."

"But-"

Dean grabbed the marker and put a big cross over what Roman had picked.

Roman snatched the marker back. He knew that apartment hunting with Dean would be difficult, but this was just ridiculous. It was 22:16. They had been through the internet and 4 newspapers, and they could not agree on anything. Not that Roman understood why Dean even had a say, but anyway...

"Okay, this is perfect," said Dean, "This is great, look. Two bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, ocean view balcony. See? This is like, the perfect bachelor pad."

Roman nodded, "Yeah, this would be pretty perfect. But look, the rent is a small fortune. I don't even have a job yet, and I don't want to dip into my trust fund until I have to."

"Maybe if you'd come back to RAW..."

"Let's move on," sighed Roman.

Dean slumped over the newspaper, they were getting tired now.

"Hey, here's one in The Three Towers. That's a nice apartment, right?"

"Yeah," nodded Dean, "But it's too far, like on the other side of town. Plus, Seth lives there."

Roman scratched that one out until you couldn't even see the words.

"Okay, I'm gonna fall asleep in 5 seconds. We need to find something now."

Dean lay on his stomach, "Who knew so many people lived in this town?"

They kept searching and disagreeing until-

"I've got it." Dean grinned, "look, this is perfect. Ocean view balcony complete with a Hot tub! We'll take it."

"What? You haven't even read the rest of it."

"I don't have to, it's got a Hot tub, that's all I need. And look, it's only two streets away from here, so I can come use your Hot tub whenever I want to! You're calling them."

Dean stood up and stretched.

He was so damn sure of himself, and Roman really wanted to refuse, but it actually was a really good apartment at a great price. Plus, it had a Hot tub.

"Alright, fine. But we'll only call tomorrow. I doubt anyone's awake right now, it's almost midnight."

"There're two weeks left of this summer, everyone's awake at midnight."

Shrugging, Roman dialed the number, and was surprised when someone picked up.

"Breaker Real Estate, how can I help you?"

"Oh, hello." Replied Roman, "Hi, I'm calling about the apartment you're renting out at The Heights. Is that still available?"

"Yes sir it is. We actually have a few apartments that will be on show tomorrow if you're interested in taking a look."

"Yeah, that would be great, thank you." Roman smiled. He got the details and hung up.

Dean came back into the living room with two can's of coke.

"So? Are we getting the Hot tub?" he threw one at Roman.

"We're gonna check it out tomorrow," Roman threw his phone onto the couch, "Now is the time to sleep."

Dean scoffed, "Not a chance."

"Dean," Roman moaned, "I'm really tired, okay. I just want to lie down and do nothing."

"Well," Dean sighed, "I guess doing something productive for once can be a little tiring."

"Haha." Roman rolled his eyes.

Ignoring Dean's complaining, Roman closed hia eyes, and within a minute, he was asleep on the couch. Despite his being 'not tired', Dean followed soon after.

When Roman woke up, he was on the floor, except for his left leg which Dean was using as a pillow on the couch. Feeling completely unsympathetic, Roman yanked his foot out, effectively making Dean wake with a yelp and crash to the floor.

He blinked a few times, gathering his bearings. Once he realised what had happened, he glared at Roman, "You asshole."

"Good morning to you too," Roman pushed himself off the floor and stretched out his stiff body. Dean climbed back onto the coach, his head on the armrest.

"You going running again today?" he asked, yawning. Roman shook his head.

"Nope. I went yesterday and now I'm stiff as hell. Haven't really done that much working out in a while.'

Dean scoffed sarcastically, "Yeah, I can tell, you're getting fat."

Roman rolled his eyes, making sure to slap Dean's head as he walked toward the bathroom.

"What time is that showing?" yelled Dean from the living room.

"The guy didn't say!" Roman replied on a shout, "Probably the whole day."

Roman finished brushing his teeth and doing his business and made it back to the living room, where Dean had switched on the TV.

Roman pushed Dean's legs off his half of the sofa and sat down. Dean retaliated by putting his legs on top of Roman.

They watched half an episode of 'Glee' before Roman sighed, "Alright I'm bored now."

"Then go out." Shrugged Dean.

"Let's go then."

"Nope. Not me. I don't do the outside world before noon."

"Aw, come on Dean. What about that park?"

"That park is five miles away. I'm not about to waste my gas and drive five miles at 7 o'clock, and I'm sure as hell not gonna walk it. Plus, that park is full of joggers around this time. Just ask Tony, she runs to that park every day and it's full of people and dogs and children and.. ugh. And what the hell would we do at the park? I mean unless you're running or in a dumb Pilates class you just look like a creep or a pedophile or-"

Roman suddenly stopped listening. Had he heard right? Tony ran there? Everyday?

Interesting...

He stood up, cutting Dean off mid sentence, "You know, I think I'm gonna go on that run."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Roman hurried up the stairs, "I like, need the exercise... and stuff."

Dean shrugged and changed the channel. He found Glee stupid, but Roman liked it. Because Roman was also stupid. Dean hadn't even picked a channel yet and Roman was running down the stairs in running gear.

"Okay bye be back in a while!" he yelled before he was out the door.

Dean frowned, that was weird, right? But Roman was weird, so whatever. He went back to changing channels.

:::

Tony bent over the tap in the park, panting her lungs out. What the hell had she been thinking?

Five miles were not a joke. Not even close. The weird thing was, she usually ran more than this. Her and Seth would take a morning jog almost every day and they would usually run from her apartment to the park and back. But today, Seth had called and said he couldn't make it, and Tony decided to go by herself. But running alone was a lot harder than running in a pair for some reason. She had only run half what she usually ran and she already felt like she was about one step away from convulsing on the sidewalk.

Tony finally took a shaky drink of water from the fountain and leaned against it, still breathing heavily.

She watched the other park people. There was a yoga class happening next to the big oak tree. The instructor was a very tall man who wore glasses and had thin black hair that went just past his shoulders. He called his class 'The Rosebuds'. Apparently it had something to do with his name. There was also a group that cycled around the big park led by someone called Curtis Axel. He very often got too hyped and would leave everyone else in the dust, apparently forgetting that he wasn't in a race.

Also in the park, an unusually happy man by the name of Bo Dallas taught Karate to children under 10. Tony was pretty sure that most of the time, he just made up the moves he executed. She had never once heard of the 'Bo-lievable tiger crouch'.

A guitar could be heard from the other side of the park and Tony smiled. A man with red hair, who always (always) wore sunglasses was in the middle of a performance under a tree. Heath Slater was a master of the guitar and let everyone know it. He was basically a band all by himself.

This park was always full, but especially in the mornings. It was basically in the middle of this little 'neighborhood'. Tony and Kofi lived about 5 miles from the park, and Dean and Paige were 5 miles away in the opposite direction, and Cesaro's, everyone's go-to cafe, was only a couple of streets away.

Tony's musings were interrupted when she felt a tap on her shoulder, "Mind sharing that water fountain?"

She stepped away apologetically and... wait... that voice! Tony turned and grinned, "Roman!" she said, genuinely surprised, "Hi!"

"Hey," he grinned back, "Fancy seeing you here,"

He bent over to take a drink and Tony almost stopped breathing. She tried to look away, ignoring the way his behind looked in those shorts or the way his lips pouted to catch the water from the fountain or the way his muscles tightened as he held the side of the water fountain and goddamn those shorts...

He stood back up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I'd forgotten how tiring five miles can be," he breathed.

"You're telling me," chuckled Tony."

"You- uh, you wanna walk? Cool off a bit?" asked Roman. Tony nodded in agreement and the pair started a stroll around the big park. Tony cleared her throat, her eyes fixed on the magnificent tattoo sleeve on Roman's huge arm.

"That is beautiful," she said, not able to hold herself, "I didn't know you had this tattoo."

Roman smiled, "Thanks. It's my pride and joy, which it should be considering what a pain in the ass it was to get."

"Well whoever did this was really freaking talented," she shook her head, studying the intricate designs.

"It was my grandmother actually."

Tony looked up with wide eyes, "Holy crap, what a woman!"

Roman laughed, "Yeah, I had to go back to Samoa to get it done though. Kind of like a coming of age thing. And only the elders have the right to do it."

"So this is really tribal? Is it the same as the ones that Jimmy and Jey have?"

Roman nodded, "Yeah it is. In fact, we all got ours within the same week. Jimmy cried like a baby,"

Roman laughed as he reminisced. Tony grinned at his laugh.

"So do you run here often?" Roman asked.

Tony nodded. "Yeah I do. Almost everyday actually. I'm usually with a friend, but he couldn't make it today, so I went at it alone. Which is strangely a lot harder than it sounds."

Roman chuckled, "Yeah, it's always easier when you've got someone pushing you along as opposed to having to push yourself."

"Do you run with Dean?"

"Well I will once he decides to get his ass off the couch." He shook his head, "But I don't know how much time I'll have to run anymore. I have to start looking for a job."

"You're an accountant, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Roman nodded, "It took me 7 years to get that title, and then no one's hiring." He shook his head, "Well, that was London. Hopefully the great US will be different."

"Let's hope," Tony smiled.

They walked and talked some more, ranging from how Tony's dance went the day before to how Roman was settling back into the US. There was hardly a silence in-between and both parties were enjoying themselves more than they would have liked to admit. That is, until a high pitched voice was heard.

"Oh my goodness! Roman Reigns!"

Roman stopped, eyes wide. Tony's eyebrows rose as she saw Bo Dallas abandon his karate kids to jog up to the pair.

"Well saddle me up and call me Petunia! It's really you!"

"Oh," Roman smiled uneasily, "Hey Bo."

"Hey guys!" the man yelled into the air, "Look who crawled out of the abyss!"

Almost out of nowhere, Curtis Axel's bike skid up to them. He removed his glasses and glared at Roman.

"Yep." He said, putting them back on, "That's Reigns alright."

Roman forced a smile again, "Axel. How you doing?"

Curtis shrugged, "Same old. Kicking ass, taking names. You know the usual."

"Hey!" Adam Rose came, "I hate to interrupt this congregation, but I am trying to teach the art of yoga and meditation. You incessant chatter is putting strain on our peace."

"I can tell you where to shove that peace, Rose," Heath Slater came laughing, pounding Rose on the back.

"And you!" he pointed at Roman, "Look who decided to show his face!"

Roman was now extremely uncomfortable and kept glancing at Tony, hoping that none of these guys mentioned anything having to do with RAW.

"Yeah," he chuckled, "I'm back guys. It's been a while, hey?"

"A long, long while," sighed Bo. "Wow, what a return this will be! Oh, I have to tell everyone!'

"No!" Roman all but shouted, causing the others to start, "Uh, no. No, you don't need to tell anyone I'm back. Really, don't."

"Oh, I get it," Heath grinned, his arm now strung over Adam's shoulder, "You're going for the element of surprise aren't you? Rock on man! So when will it be? Tonight? I bet it's tonight."

"No actually," Roman cleared his throat, "No, not tonight. Or anytime soon I think."

"What?" Bo looked horrified, "Why not?"

"Let the man be Dallas," said Heath. He turned to Roman, "Well I'm off work tonight Reigns, and since you're not going back yet, I expect to see you at the carnival." He pulled a crumbled flyer out of his pocket, "I'll be performing! So come check me out!"

"Oh, nice," nodded Roman, "Who are you playing with?"

Heath laughed, "Me, myself and I! Who else do I need?"

Roman laughed awkwardly. Heath took off, strumming his guitar and singing at the top of his lungs. With an upturned nose, Adam Rose returned to his class, Curtis Axel took off on his bike, and Bo Dallas waved goodbye, but not without giving Roman a warm and friendly hug.

"Well," giggled Tony, "That was a friendly bunch,"

"Yeah," Roman sighed, "I used to work with them a while back,"

"Yeah? What did you do?"

"Oh," Roman cleared his throat, "Uh, you know... stuff." Roman silently cursed himself and his failure of a cover.

Tony rose her eyebrows but decided not to pry.

"So what's this Carnival?" Roman stared at the flyer Heath gave him as he tried to change the subject.

Tony smiled, "It's down in Kersey, about a half hour's drive from here. It's open all summer and has the standard carnival rides and roller coasters and haunted houses, you know."

"Is it any good?"

"It's amazing. I work there at the moment, and I never get tired of it. You should check it out sometime."

"I think I will," Roman smiled, "Besides, if I don't see Heath play, he won't let me forget it."

Tony laughed, looking at the red headed man as his fingers flew over the strings and his face screwed up in a silence roar.

"What days do you work there?" asked Roman.

"Monday's and Thursday from 5 to midnight." Said Tony.

Roman almost smiled, how convenient.

"Well I might see you there," he said, smiling for real.

Tony smiled back.

The park was beginning to empty as the sun got higher. It was only then that they realised how late it was. Tony looked at her watch and saw that it was nearly 11 o'clock. She hated to say this but...

"I should get going. I'm already about 3 hours late."

"Yeah," Roman nodded, "I should also get back. Dean will probably be waking up soon."

Tony giggled, "Before noon? On a Monday? No chance,"

Roman laughed too, "That's very true."

For the fist time that morning, they stood in silence. Silence that was getting more awkward by the second. Again, Roman wondered if he should go in for a hug. Again, he waited too long.

"Okay bye," Tony smiled.

"Goodbye. Maybe I'll see you later?" he grinned.

"Yeah, maybe."

The too exchanged another awkward goodbye before heading separate ways.

:::

Roman drove into the Pineland's apartment building's parking lot.

"Nice place," Dean nodded from the front seat.

"Remember Dean," said Roman, almost in a teacherly voice, "We're here for the apartment as a whole. Not just to see how big the hot tub is. And also, I will have the last word on whether I take it or not, seeing as I'm the one who's going to be living here. And also-"

Roman was interrupted when Dean opened the car door and got out, "Well are you coming?"

Roman turned off the engine with a sigh of exasperation. He might as well have been talking to a wall.

The two men walked into the lobby of the building. They were hit by a burst of air conditioning and Dean sighed,

"Yep, it's a keeper."

"We haven't even seen it!" Roman rolled his eyes, "Now where is this realtor?"

"I think that's him," pointed Dean. They walked to a man in a suit who had his back turned to them.

"Breaker real estate?" asked Roman.

"That would be correct!" The man turned around, and the smile on his face was wiped off, "Oh, god. You two."

Dean glared at Chris Jericho, "You're kidding me."

Roman sighed. Great.

"Jericho," he said unpleasantly, "You're from Breaker Real Estate?"

The man scoffed, "I _am_ Breaker Real Estate. I own it."

"Well that's great." Roman said, his face straight, "Can we see the apartment so we'll be out of your hair?"

"You unnatural hair with a weird shape," muttered Dean, earning himself a glare from Jericho and a hard elbow from Roman.

"Right this way," Chris snarled.

The ride up the elevator to the 4th floor was silent and awkward. When they finally got to the floor, Chris led them to a door. Number 47.

"This is the apartment on offer," he spoke professionally as he unlocked and opened the door, "it's been empty for a while and is available immediately. It has two bedrooms, a bathroom. There's a study, a kitchen with new granite counter, and a balcony that has a view of the ocean. Knock yourselves out." He gestured into the apartment.

"What about the hot tub?" asked Dean, "The ad mentioned a hot tub."

"The hot tub is on the balcony," Jericho sounded bored.

Dean went straight for it, and Roman rolled his eyes and followed. He found a grinning Dean stretched out in an empty hot tub. "It's beautiful! Where's Jericho, tell him we're taking it."

Roman rolled his eyes, "Get out of there! We haven't even seen the rest of the apartment."

"I don't need to. You go on, I'll be in here in this beautiful hot tub that looks out into the ocean." He smiled, content, and settled into the tub.

Roman rubbed his face and went back into the apartment, muttering something along the lines of 'fucking useless.'

Roman hated that Dean was right, but the apartment really was pretty perfect for him. Roman toured the apartment with a satisfied look on his face. He really couldn't complain. Roman was smiling. Until, that is, he walked into the second bedroom. He stood in the doorway for a while, no longer smiling.

He would be living here. Alone. In this apartment with two bedrooms. And a hot tub.

Roman was suddenly hit with the last couple of weeks before he had left the UK. He hadn't really stopped thinking about it at all, it had always been gnawing at the back of head. He had been telling himself for ages that there was nothing he could do but wait. And he had been checking his phone very frequently but hadn't received a single call. And now this empty second bedroom...

Roman sighed, pulling out his phone again. It rang 4 times.

"Reigns?" came the Scottish voice.

"Hey, Drew," said Roman, "Listen, I know I'm not supposed to be calling in, but I was wondering if-"

"If I've found 'em yet?"

"Well... yeah."

The man on the other end sighed, "You know Reigns, I'm not like most Private Investigators. Firstly, I'm no' very legal. Which means tha' the more ye contact me the lesser the chance of me stayin' out of jail long enough to do what you're paying me to do."

"I know, I just-"

"And those texts you've been sending aren't really helpin' matters either. I've been ignoring you fer a reason."

Roman clenched his teeth. He had to refrain from cursing the man to hell because he needed him. No one else in all of England would help him with this.

"Okay, Drew, I know. I'm sorry, I'm just kind of going crazy here without any feedback."

"Yes, I know you are, trust me, I do. But you have to let me do my job. You were right, the old man is very connected. Knows how to cover his tracks. I'm trying here. Just give me time. I'll find them."

"You have to. Please."

With that, Drew McIntyre hung up.

Roman sighed, squeezing his eyes shut tightly.

 _Trust Drew,_ he kept reminding himself, _he'll find them. He has to find them._

After a few minutes of pulling himself together, Roman went back outside to find Dean still in the hot tub.

"So?" he asked.

"It's pretty perfect."

Dean laughed, "Like I said. Come on," he patted the tub, "Join me, Roman. The water is amazing."

Roman laughed, rolling his eyes, but climbed into the empty tub nonetheless. They sat there, and Roman surprisingly found himself relaxing after that phone call.

"Remember that time we tried to dig our own hot tub?"

Roman laughed out loud, remembering. They had been 8 at Roman's parents house. They had dug a hot tub sized hole in the garden and tried to fill it with hot water from the kettle. They couldn't for the life of them understand why the water kept disappearing with every trip.

"Well now we don't have to," smiled Roman, "We've got our own."

They sat for a while longer in companionable silence in the afternoon sun.

"You know," Dean cleared his throat after a while, "I kinda missed you when you were gone."

Roman looked at Dean, surprise clear on his face. Dean Ambrose was not one for affectionate words, so something like this was a huge deal, and made Roman feel all sappy inside. But like a real friend, he had no choice but to tease.

"Kinda?" he smirked.

Dean shrugged, Just a little bit,"

"Bullshit."

Dean raised his eyebrows in defiance.

"You missed me a lot," grinned Roman.

"Don't flatter yourself Reigns."

"You don't know how you lasted all that time without me,"

"Oh god, you're pathetic."

"You loooove me Deano," Roman grinned obnoxiously.

"Will you shut up?"

"You can't imagine your life without me, can you?"

"I will fucking knock you out and throw you off this building."

Roman laughed loudly and then threw his arm over Dean's shoulder, "Well I love you too Ambrose."

Dean snarled and shook Roman's arm off, "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Well I hate to break up this little bromance you two have going on, but I do have other clients."

Roman frowned, "I see you're still as rude as always Chris."

Chris rolled his eyes, "Will you get out of the hot tub? Your dirty shoes are going to leave marks."

Roman rolled his eyes and turned to Dean, "Why is he so cranky?" he whispered loudly, "Nothing's wrong with our shoes."

"It's because he's got those ugly ass boots," Dean replied in an equally loud whisper, "And I think his pants are too tight, see?"

Roman nodded at Jericho's pants, "I think maybe he's a little too old for leather jeggings," he observed.

"Definitely, " nodded Dean, "But why don't people tell him?"

"They like making fun of him," whispered Roman.

"But that's kinda rude," Dean tutted, "You can't make fun of people just because they're old and were jeggings and scarves all the time. You know, each to his own."

Jericho, who had been fuming, threw a curse at the laughing pair and went back into the apartment.

"I think I'm gonna like living here," Roman closed his eyes against the sun and leaned his head back against the side of his hot tub.

:::

 **I don't like asking for Follows or Favourites or Reviews, so I won't do it.**

 **But if if you do feel like Following or Favouriting or Reviewing, that would be great.**

 **See you soon! :)**

 **-Leeh**


	5. Chapter 5

"You're seriously not coming?"

Dean groaned at Roman. It was 7 o'clock and Dean was on his way to Monday night RAW. The arena that the fights took place in was an hour away.

Dean was standing by the door, trying to get through to Roman one more time, "Rome, you're going to go back eventually."

"And I will. But not tonight." Roman shrugged from the coach, "Plus, I have to pack."

"You have a toothbrush and a few clothes."

"Right," Roman said slowly, "So... I have to go shopping. I'm moving tomorrow, I can't be all tired and sore."

"Is that your latest excuse?"

"Goodbye Dean!"

Dean rolled his eyes, mumbling something about a 'fucking wuss'.

"Fine then, I'll see you later, you fucker."

Roman chuckled as the door banged, but his mirth quickly disappeared as he heard the car drive away.

He had half a mind to call Dean and tell him to come back and take him with, but he didn't. He wasn't ready for RAW. Not yet.

Roman sighed. What now? Dean had been right, he didn't really have that much to pack at all. And it was a bit late to go shopping for furniture. But hey, what was the internet for? And might as well do some job hunting too, right?

Yeah! Roman wasn't bored. Or lonely. Or sad. No, not at all. After all, he had tons to do.

An hour later, Roman sighed ad rolled away from the laptop. He had managed to order furniture, arrange for it to be delivered to his new apartment, buy himself a laptop, refrain from calling Drew, and watched a lot of YouTube Videos. He now very proudly knew the correct way to feed a giraffe.

Roman sighed as he leaned back. 8 o'clock. Now what? He sighed again. RAW was starting just about now. He closed his eyes and he could almost hear Michael Cole's obnoxious voice welcoming the always packed arena to another great show. He could almost feel the misty air in the locker rooms after everyone's shower. He could hear the chatter from the huge cafeteria that everyone would hang out at while they waited for their matches.

RAW was starting. He could taste it. But he wasn't the re.

Roman opened his eyes with a groan.

He hated all this nostalgia. He wanted to go back so bad, but he knew himself, and he wasn't nearly ready.

He had to do something. He stood up and jelt something in his jeans crumple. He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. He chuckled when he realised that it was the flyer that Heath had given him that morning when he was at the park with Tony.

Tony!

Tony had mentioned working at this Amusement Park, right? He could go see her.

Heath. He was seeing Heath perform. And if Tony just happened to be there, it would be pure coincidence. And plus, didn't Dean say something about 'Tony duty?' Yeah, that's what he was doing. Making sure she didn't get suspicious. And plus, even if she was working and had nothing really to be suspicious about, you could never be too careful, right? Right. Roman nodded to himself and made for the door, grabbing the keys to Paige's car on the way, flyer in hand.

:::

"Oh come on now, how many people can one town inhabit?" cried Billie.

"Well technically it's more than one town. This carnival is linked to at least 3 failry large towns so it's likely that there is more than just one town attending."

Tony laughed at the look she received. "My bad, I'll shut up."

Billie was right. They had started their shift at the ticket counter at 6, and now it was 8 and the flow of people had not stopped. Tony's fingers were getting tired from handling money and ringing up the chains of tickets. Her shift should have been over by now, but her replacement, Cass was running late. As usual.

"Welcome to Summer Wonderland, how can I help you?" Tony's introduction was automatic by now and she could do this in her sleep.

"Have a fantastic time," she smiled as she handed over the tickets. The door of the ticket booth opened and Billie squealed, "Finn, thank the gods you're my lifesaver. See you Tone," and she was gone.

"Balor," Tony forced a smile.

"Kingston," Finn snarled.

The two didn't get along. At all. But luckily, selling tickets and greting customers didn't lend to any type of conversation. After what felt like ages, the booth door opened again and a hulking figure entered.

"I'm late," he said simply.

"Yeah, I noticed!" Tony huffed, standing up.

"My bad," shrugged Cass. Tony rolled her eyes.

"Oh, come on, you mad?" Cass made a pouty face.

"I'm not mad," Tony shrugged.

"You're mad." Cass nodded, "Stop being mad, Kingston!" he shook her playfully, holding her shoulders.

Tony fought not to laugh, "I'm not mad!"

"Yeah you are!" Cass held Tony's head under his arm and rubbed her head with his knuckles. Tony squealed and struggled while Cass laughed, "Oh come on, don't be such a sawfty."

"Let go you dweeb!" Tony finally struggled out of the hold.

Cass went to sit at the chair, still laughing.

"You know, this is why you're single. You say words like 'dweeb'."

"Oh ha ha. You're hilarious."

Cass laughed again,

"Where's Enzo?" asked Tony, as it was always weird seeing one without th other.

"Raiding the corn dog stand," Cass shrugged. "He'll be here. Your next shift is at 10, you better be here on time!"

"Look who's talking!" Tony shook her head as she left the booth.

Alright, next was the cotton candy stand. The staff of the carnival was entirely local, most of it consisting of high school students. It was pretty far from where Tony lived, so besides, Enzo, Cass and Finn, she was the only person here that she went to school with.

When Tony got to the cotton candy stand, the line was a mile long and the girl who had been in charge was already gone. Tony put on her apron, apologised for the wait and got to work.

An hour later, Tony had made a vow to never look at sugar ever again. She had until 10 before her next shift at the tickets, so she was free to roam. She was immediately drawn to the make shift stage in the middle of the field. A kid's band was performing and Tony couldn't help but smile at their efforts. She watched the band perform, and then another, more experience group after that. When they were done, the red headed man from the park went on stage,

"That's all for now ladies and dudes!" he said, "Live performances will resume shortly, so instead, we will be playing you this bad music over the speakers. Enjoy!"

Tony laughed as 'Call Me Maybe' blasted out of the speakers.

She looked at her watch. She still had some time to kill, so she got herself a pop corn and stood in the long line to the Ferris wheel. She finished the popcorn within a few minutes, leaving her holding a very empty bucket. She was two people away from the front when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Mind sharing a cart?"

Tony was smiling before she even turned, "Why do I get the feeling you're using me to avoid the line?"

Roman laughed, "Oh, you got me. That, and I noticed your lack of popcorn," he gestured at the empty popcorn bucket, "So I brought some more."

"My hero," Tony grinned.

"Ticket's please." Came the bored voice at the front of the line.

"Hi Tye,"

The guy looked up, "Oh, Tony! Hey, Go ahead."

Roman raised his eyebrows as they went through for free.

"Employee benefit," Tony grinned, "I get all the rides for free."

"Best job in the world,"

"I would say so." She giggled.

"Now I'm _real_ glad I'm using you."

The two sat down as they waited for the ride to start.

"You know," said Tony, "For someone who's Dean's best friend, you sure get out a lot without him."

"Oh uh... yeah, Dean had a... late meting."

Tony nodded, "Probably the same one Kofi went to. Looks like they're actually taking this promotion seriously."

Roman's lips were a straight line, knowing for a fact that marketing was the last thing on their minds. It was then that the ride started, and Tony grinned as she held onto the bar in front of her.

"Oh I love this part," she grinned, as the wheel started moving up, making everything on the ground seem smaller, "Only way this could get better is if was faster, don't you think?"

When Tony didn't get a reply, she turned to Roman, and her eyebrows shot up when she saw him sitting as far back as possible and holding the bucket of popcorn to his chest as if it was a lifeline.

She frowned, "Uh... Roman?"

Roman glanced at her and let out a small sigh, "I don't really like heights." he muttered.

Tony frowned, turning to him, "You... you're afraid of heights?"

"Not afraid!" he snapped, "I just don't like them."

"Then... then why did you get on a Ferris wheel?"

Roman grit his teeth, "That's a real good question," he gulped.

Tony really tried her hardest not to laugh, but she couldn't help the smile on her face. It was a real sight, seeing such a large man looking so scared.

"It's okay Roman," she patted his back, "It'll be over soon. And then we can go do something else. On the ground. Okay?"

Roman nodded, taking a gulp, "This is embarrassing,"

"Oh come on, we're all scared of something."

"I'm not scared," he muttered.

"I mean, did you know that Kofi's scared of lightning?"

Roman blinked, "For real?"

"Uh huh," she nodded, "And... and Paige can't swim. She's terrified of the water. Which is weird considering she's from England where it rains all the time."

Roman couldn't help but let out a chuckle, and Tony beamed in pride.

"Oh and of course you know about Dean and bugs."

Roman laughed, "Yeah, I can't ever let him get over that." he turned to Tony with a smile, "So what about you then? What are you scared of?"

Tony scoffed, "Oh I'm not scared of anything."

"But you just said-"

"Yeah well, everybody has fear, except for me. I'm really hardcore and stuff."

Roman laughed, "Are you telling me you've never been afraid before? Of anything?"

The smile on Tony's face faded a little, and Roman frowned a bit at her silence.

"Well," she shrugged, turning back in her seat, "maybe once or twice, I guess. But otherwise, totally fearless."

Roman frowned at her a bit as she looked straight out, and then a second after, she turned back to him with a smile as if nothing had happened, "Hey, you ever heard about that time a spider fell into the bathtub with Dean?"

Roman narrowed his eyes, wondering for a bit if he had imagined that moment, but no. The strained smile on her face now told him that he hadn't. But it didn't look like she wanted to say anything, so he gave strained smile back.

"No what happened?"

Tony told him the story of Dean jumping out of the tub screaming and then running out of the house naked to hose himself down. He heard a few more stories of things he had missed, and Roman told her of some that Tony had missed.

The two were laughing so hard that Roman almost forgot that he was a hundred feet in the air.

By the time the ride ended, the popcorn was finished and Roman and Tony were kinda bummed that they had to go back to the carnival. Although neither of them were gonna say it out loud.

Once back on the ground, Tony saw that it was almost time for her to go back to work. Roman saw her checking her watch.

"Duty calls?"

"Not yet," she said, "I still got time to see that guy from the park perform."

"Heath," Roman winced, "I totally forgot about him. Yeah we should show up, or else I'll never hear the end of it."

"You know, I'll meet you there, I'm gonna go get us some corndogs,"

"Oh that's fine, I'll go," said Roman, reaching for his wallet.

Tony stopped him, "I get it for free remember? Go on, I'll see you at the stage."

Roman watched her disappear into the crowd with a smile. He made his way over to where the music was coming from, and before he could even start looking for Heath, he was bombarded by red hair and sunglasses.

"Reigns!" Heath cried loudly, "You're actually here! Honestly, I thought you'd be at RAW."

Roman shrugged as he looked around to make sure Tony was far away enough to not overhear, "Nah, I'm just... here."

"Yeah I can see." Heath nodded as he tuned his guitar, "I gotta tell you man, I don't know how you stay away for this long and not immediately go rushing back. For me, one night away hurts. Right in the feels." He pounded his hand against his chest, "that's why I've got Bo calling me every 10 minutes with updates." As if on cue, a loud song blared out of Heath's pocket, "Oh, it must be him!" He answered it, "Brother! Hey, I'm gonna put you on speaker I've got Reign's here."

Heath pressed teh buttons and Bo Dallas's voice came out.

"You're with Roman?" he gushed, "I don't Bo-lieve it, I thought he would be here!"

"Hello Bo," Roman forced a smile.

"Roman!" Bo's voice almost beamed, "hello! How are-"

"Alright alright," Heath cut him off, "Give it to me,"

Bo sighed over the phone, "Well as we speak there's a match going on."

"Who?" Roman couldn't help but ask.

"Cesaro and Big E. Gosh, when was the last time I went to Cesaro's? He has the greatest Sticky Buns, although I can never have more than one or all that sugar will go straight to my-"

"Bo!" Heath sighed.

"I apologise. It's Cesaro against Big E. Cesaro's wining, but the New Day is at ringside and the Francesca can cause a lot of damage."

"The trombone?" Roman remembered.

Heath nodded, "Alright," he said to Bo, "Who won the match before?"

"Oh, it was Stardust against R-Truth. Goldust was in Truth's corner and his brother was very angry. In my opinion, Goldust really shouldn't be antagonizing his brother like that, who knows what he'll do with his voodoo trickery. Anyway, Truth won, and I haven't seen Stardust since then. Do you think he's gone back to his dimension?"

"Bo, it's just Cody!" Heath said exasperated, "Stardust is just Cody!"

Bo scoffed, "Of, course, that's what he wants us to think, but I am not so easily fooled. Something's strange about that man."

"Everything is strange about that man," Roman chuckled, "But it's still just Cody."

"If you say so," Bo sighed at them in the voice of a tolerant adult. "Oh look! They're advertising the main event!"

"Who's in it?"

"Let's see... Oh it's Ambrose! And he's..." there was a silence. "Oh dear." Bo said.

"Oh dear?" Roman straightened up, "What's 'oh dear'?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. Never mind. Ok, bye!"

Bo hung up without another word.

"What does he mean by 'oh dear'?" Roman asked Heath. The red head just shrugged, "He could literally mean anything. Don't worry about it. You could just go check for yourself."

Roman opened his mouth and then sighed, shaking his head, "I can't go back there."

Heath's phone buzzed, "Oh, it's my turn for the stage," he grinned.

He stood up with his guitar and turned away, and then turned back to Roman, "Look Reigns. Stop being scared.

"Why would I be scared?" Roman muttered. Heath sighed.

"You're scared. I don't know why, but it's true. But listen, RAW is your life as much as it is mine. Don't waste time away from what you love just because you're holding yourself back."

He left Roman a rare soft smile, before winking and charging to the stage.

Almost as soon as Heath was gone, Tony was by his side.

"Corndog?" she asked. Roman smiled gratefully.

"Just what I needed,"

Their conversation ceased when Heath bounced onto the stage. After he gave himself a heated introduction, he started singing. Roman had to admit that the man wasn't half bad. In fact, he was pretty damn good. Roman was surprised at how his voice could go from annoyingly obnoxious to so melodious just like that.

Heath Slater's voice captured Roman in more ways than one.

 _"Look Reigns. Stop being scared. RAW is your life as much as it is mine. Don't waste time away from what you love just because you're holding yourself back."_

He wasn't scared. He wasn't wasting time. Right? He was just being cautious. He was just biding his time. He was just waiting. Waiting for what? He did not know. But... now was not the right time. He wasn't scared.

 _I'm not scared._

Tony frowned. Heath was onto his second song already, and he was pretty amazing. Everyone who was listening was thoroughly enjoying it, except Roman apparently, who had been glaring at his untouched corndog for a long time now. Tony wanted to say something, but didn't want to interrupt his thoughts. But now he was clutching at the corndog stick too hard, and the skin around his knuckles was getting dangerously tight.

She nudged him hard, and he finally blinked.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah!" he forced a smile, "Yeah, I'm good!"

Tony just frowned. She usually had a 'no meddling' policy that she stuck to, but now...

"I heard what Heath said," she finally said after a deep breath.

Roman's eyes snapped to hers, "You did?"

Oh, shit, he thought, what did she hear? Kofi will kill me.

Tony nodded, "Well, only a little bit. I heard him telling you to stop being scared. And to stop holding back. And to go back and do what you love. And then something about something raw."

Roman flinched.

"Now I don't really know what he was talking about," Tony admitted, "But I agree with him."

Roman sighed, "You don't understand-"

"I know," Tony stopped him, "I know I don't, but I still agree. Roman, you just came from another country, and picking up from where you left off is probably not as easy as most people think."

"Exactly!" Roman exclaimed, "I can't just pretend that I never left."

"Then don't." Tony shrugged, "Who said you just carry on? Go there and start over. Start over as much as you want. Pretend it's your first time even. But don't give up what you love. Now I don't really know what it is we're talking about here, but I really do think that this carnival is not where you need to be right now."

Roman stared at Tony for a long time.

Here was this girl, who didn't even know what was going on, but she was making a whole lot of sense. He wanted RAW. He wanted it so bad. And his mind kept drifting to Bo's 'Oh dear'. He needed to go back to RAW. As in, now. His body made to turn, but then he remembered Tony. He looked at her guiltily and she just smiled. She plucked the corn dog from his hand.

"Go on now, you have somewhere to be."

Roman smiled at her, grateful. He must had stood staring for too long, because she giggled,

"Well go!"

Roman chuckled and nodded, "Thank you." He said genuinely, "Really, thanks. Tell Heath I said he was great." He shot her another smile and then dashed off. He was two steps away when he turned around, and engulfed a surprised Tony in a hug. She gasped as he effortlessly lifted her off the ground, trapping her upper arms against her own body. The hug lasted 3 blissful seconds before Roman seemed to remember himself and set her down quickly.

The slightest blush of embarrassment ghosted on his cheeks, "Sorry about that," he chuckled, "I'll just... I'll go now. Thank you."

And then he was gone, leaving a stunned Tony, her arms still stiff against her body. A goofy smile found it's way onto her lips and stayed there. He smelled so good. And he was so strong. And he had such a nice smile. And... what the hell was RAW?


	6. Chapter 6

Dean Ambrose did not have many friends on Monday Night Raw.

He didn't need or want them. There were people he talked to and hung out with, sure, but he didn't really have someone he could call a 'partner'. Kofi had Xavier and Big E, Dolph had Neville, Kalisto had Sin Cara, Jimmy had Jey. Everyone had someone, except for Dean.

Mainly because he didn't want anyone. He couldn't trust anyone to actually have his back. He had done that once before and all that had done was earn him a back full of steel.

After Seth betrayed him and after Roman left him, Dean went about things on his own. And that was the way he liked it. It worked just fine for him, thank you very much. Except sometimes it could leave him at a disadvantage. Like right now...

"Go on Dean!" Stephanie McMahon taunted, "Pick someone! Anyone at all!"

Dean glared at the woman. She was such a fucking bitch. She fucking knew that Dean had no one he could call, so she deliberately put him in a 6 man tag team match. Sheamus, Del Rio and Kevin Owens versus Dean Ambrose and... well at this rate, no one. Dean couldn't get one person to come out here, let alone two.

Well actually, The Usos would come. And Kofi and Dolph. They were probably standing by the gorilla, just in case. But Dean knew he wasn't going to call them. They probably knew it too.

It was okay though, Dean did not mind fighting in bad situations. In fact, he quite enjoyed it. But right here were three men who had a personal hatred for him, and he had a feeling that taking on all three of them alone would not go well.

Kevin, Del Rio and Sheamus were smirking behind Stephanie, who had a yellow shark grin to rival Ursula.

"Oh, wait. I'm sorry Ambrose, you don't have anyone to pick do you? Oh, silly me, how could I forget? Did I embarrass you Dean? Is it embarrassing to be reminded in front of all these people here that you have absolutely nobody who gives a damn about y-"

She didn't get to finish. Stephanie McMahon was left pale and speechless as a track no one had heard in 3 years filled the arena.

The screams were deafening as Roman Reigns appeared amongst the crowds. The camera's zoomed in on his face, which showed a smile so bright it was blinding. The only one that could rival it was Dean's.

"OH MY GOD!' Michael Cole was beside himself, "IT'S ROMAN REIGNS! IT'S ROMAN REIGNS! HE'S BACK! HE'S BACK!"

Sheamus and Kevin were no longer smirking. Stephanie had the mike limp at her side. Dean was cackling in her face.

Roman hopped over the barricades and took a moment to look around. At the squared circle. At the long ramp. At that giant screen. At those stupid announcers. At the screaming fans. How had he managed to be away from this for so long? Roman finally looked into the ring, were Dean was grinning at him and the others were gaping.

He climbed the steel steps and ducked in between the two top ropes. He went over to Dean, and the two shared a brief bro hug. Next, he approached Stephanie, tugged the mike out of her hand and made to speak, but the roar was too loud.

Roman almost cried. He had to wait for the crowd to quieten down before he spoke.

"Man, it's good to be back."

Roman grinned again as the crowd cheered.

"I feel like I've been gone for ages! I mean, come on, so much has happened. Kevin Owens has a title? Sting came back? Kane lost his manhood, and then found it again. I mean, geez guys, a lot can happen in 3 years. But! There are some things that never change. One of them being that Stephanie McMahon still does not know when to stop talking!"

That was met with a withering glare from Stephanie and raucous laughter and cheers from the rest of the arena.

"So basically, I came back for two reasons. One, to get this lady to just shut up."

More cheers.

"And two, I came back for my brother here."

Dean smirked, "Oh, you." He pretended to blush.

"Now, Stephanie, if you could get the fuck out please? I believe a five man tag team match is about to start." Roman flicked the mike behind him and shared a fist bump with Dean. Stephanie huffed out of the ring and up the ramp.

"So," said Dean. "What happened to 'I'm not ready yet'?"

"Well I was with Tony, and she told me to basically stop being a wuss and to stop sulking over the past and to just come here and fucking fight."

A slow smile spread across Dean's face, "You were with Tony?"

Roman let out a groan as he stepped out of the ring, trying to hide a blush "i give up on you." He muttered as the bell rang and Dean faced off Owens.

:::

"I'd like to make a toast!"

Roman didn't know whether to laugh or wince as Xavier Woods staggered onto the table, his mug of beer tight in his hand.

"To Roman Reigns! For finally getting his stupid ass out of hiding and coming back to RAW!"

The rest of the bar cheered along with Xavier, even though his drunken ass had already made this speech 5 times.

"For 3 years, this guys been bored in England with a stupid girl," Xavier laughed again, "But now he's not bored, because he's not in England. He's here! And here, is America! And in America, we do not have stupid girls!"

Xavier paused and frowned as everyone laughed, "Oh wait, we do have girls! Except girls here are better! Even though sometimes they're all over your ass about stupid things like forgetting the trash for a couple weeks! It's just dirt Alicia! It'll fertilize the ground!"

"Get off that fucking table before you fall off!" yelled a voice from the bar.

"I'll fall off if I want to fall off, I'm a grown man!"

"A grown man would remember to take out the rubbish Xavier!"

"You say anything else about that stupid trash and I'll.. I'll... I'll do something bad!

Roman wiped tears from his eyes as he cackled. He was probably laughing way too hard, but so was everyone else. They were all shit drunk.

Dean burped loudly from next to him, "Oh god, that's a lot of tequila," he laughed, "I think I'm pregnant. And why the fuck am I drinking tequila?"

"Cause you miss Paige?" Roman guessed.

Dean groaned, "Oh god, you better not tell her that."

Roman cackled again, careful not to drop his mug of beer, although oblivious that the liquid was sloshing over the sides.

Roman couldn't remember the last time he had had fun like this. Just going out with the guys and getting drunk. After RAW that night, half of the roster had made it to the nearest bar to celebrate his return. There had been plenty of toasts and plenty of beer and plenty of drunk dancing, and Roman was enjoying every minute of it.

By now, Xavier had been pulled down from the table by Alicia Fox, his girlfriend who was quite pissed at him.

Roman jumped when someone came crashing into the table he was sitting at.

"Stop pushing me E!" yelled Kofi.

"I ain't even touch you!" yelled Big E from the other side of the room.

"Come on, I ain't... I didn't... I'm not even drink!"

"The word is 'drunk' Kofi," chuckled Roman.

Kofi frowned, "Didn't I say that?"

Roman laughed again as Kofi shook his head violently, trying to shake his sense back.

"Wow, I had a lot of beer," he whispered. He pulled himself onto a chair and put his head onto the table. He was snoring within a few seconds.

"Oh!" Dean yelled, "Oh, this is my song!" He jumped off his chair, and as a result wobbled dangerously, trying to gain balance.

Roman strained to hear the music over the loud bar noises.

 _"You're never gonna get it I'm a hazard to myself!_

 _I break it to you easy this is hell this is hell!_

 _You're looking and whispering,_

 _you think I'm someone else_

 _This is hell yes!_

 _Literal hell!"_

Dean sang along to the song, a few people catching on and joining in. By the chorus, almost the whole bar was singing We don't have to dance by Andy Black.

 _"We don't have to talk!_

 _We don't have to dance!_

 _We don't have to smile we don't have to make friends!_

 _It's so nice to meet you, let's never meet again!_

 _We don't have to talk!_

 _We don't have to dance!_

 _We don't have to dance!"_

The bar tenders watched in fascination as they sang, and not even one of the wrestlers was moving. Apparently, these RAW people took this song way too literally.

Dean was standing, barely balancing on the same table that Kofi was sleeping on. The man jerked awake, moving the table and causing Dean to crash onto the floor.

The bar ooh'd in harmony as both men fell in a heap.

"Oh my god, you've killed me!" yelled Dean.

"Where's my ketchup?" mumbled a still half asleep Kofi.

Roman tried to catch his breath. He wondered if he had stopped laughing since he had come in here. He doubted it. With these clowns, it was pretty hard to not laugh, especially after a few beers. But at the moment, Roman wouldn't have had it any other way.

After an hour or so, most of the wrestlers had headed home, leaving only a few at the long table, their long abandoned drinks in front of them. Those left included Roman, Dean, Kofi, Big E, Xavier, Dolph, Jimmy and Jey. It was still only a little after midnight, and the stereo had been turned down and was now just background music so as to ease the growing headaches. They were all considerably drunk.

"I'd like to propose a toast," mumbled Xavier. Everyone groaned in protest.

"Please not again," pleaded Roman.

"But Roman, we have to make a toast!" Xavier insisted, forgetting that he had already made this toast more times than anyone cared to count, "You're back at RAW, and it is our duty as your friends to celebrate."

"But we're not friends." Roman frowned.

"Yes we are," he insisted, "whether you like it or not. And we are celebrating!"

"We've been celebrating for a while now, X. Shouldn't you be getting home? I heard Alicia gets cranky real easy."

Xavier scoffed, "Please. I do not take orders from Alicia Fox just because she's willingly dating me."

"He does actually," hiccuped Big E, "She has his dick in a box that she keeps under her pillow."

"That is false!" protested Xavier at the laughter of the others, "My penis is in fact right where it is supposed to be!"

"Nobody wants to hear about your penis," mumbled Dolph, covering his ears with his hair.

"Well fine! I'll just take me and my penis and leave!"

"You do that." Dolph stuck out his tongue.

"No!" Kofi piped up, "You can't go, we're still playing poker!"

Dean snickered, "Kofi, we stopped playing poker about half an hour ago,"

Kofi frowned and looked down, noticing that he was the only one who still had cards in his hands, "Oh," he said, "Well... did I win?"

The table broke into another round of rambunctious laughter at Kofi's expense. It was well known that Kofi was what was known as a 'dumb-drunk'. He became extremely slow and seemed to lose function of most of his brain cells.

"Okay!" Roman jumped at the loud voice of his cousin Jey, "I'm gonna have to address the elephant in the room. I know you're all thinking it!" He paused for dramatic effect, "Roman, Uce. Why did you come back to RAW? Only now? I mean, you've been back for weeks. You're seen your mom, we've been over at Dean's enough, and all that time, all I saw, and I'm sure Jimmy here'll back me, all I saw is you acting like all your puppies had died. And then you suddenly show up all... you know..." he looked around for support, "Not miserable. Right? I'm right, right?"

"No!" Roman snorted.

"Actually... yeah," Big E said, "I mean, I heard you were back, but everyone warned me not to visit you because you were suckish company."

"I'm great company! Who the hell told you that?"

"Don't tell him it was me," whispered Dean, quite loudly.

"It wasn't Dean," said E quickly, "It was just someone else, who's not Dean."

"You told them I'm bad company?" Roman all but pouted.

"Well, you were." Dean shrugged, "Haven't you been wondering why no one's been to see you?"

"Well, everyone's been busy, obviously!" Roman rolled his eyes.

"Actually, no." Xavier offered. "We just didn't want to be around you all depressed like you were."

"Paige is staying in England longer than she needs to," admitted Dean, "Cause she didn't really want to share a house with you being all... sad." Roman gaped wide eyed.

"We cancelled your 'Welcome Back' party," offered Kofi, "Dean told us you were too grumpy."

"I wasn't!"

"Oh, I've got one!" Jimmy jumped up, "Remember when you went to see Aunt Pati? She told us to hide your passport so that you wouldn't run away back to Charlotte because you looked like shit."

Roman couldn't believe what he was hearing. Next to him, Dean was snickering at his expense.

"Ya'll are the worst friends ever!" he punched the table, "And the worst family!"

"Well at least we're telling the truth!" offered Kofi.

"I hate your truth!" Roman snarled.

"Now back to my original question," cut in Jey, "You're not pathetically sad anyone. What changed?"

A huge shark like grin split Dean's face and his hand shot up in the air as if he were in a classroom, "Can I answer that one? Please, I know why!"

"Alright Ambrose," Jey nodded.

Dean laughed, "He's all happy now because of Tony."

Big E frowned, turning to Kofi, "Your sister?"

Kofi frowned, turning to Roman, "My sister?" his voice was almost a growl.

Roman's eyes widened, "Uh... no. I have no idea what he's talking about."

"Okay good," Kofi grinned.

"Kofi look!" Dolph pointed at the far end of the bar, "It's a Jukebox!"

Kofi beamed, "Yes!"

He hurried off to the box, and they all knew that it would take him a while to realise that the Jukebox hadn't been working for a few years now.

"Okay, he's gone," Dolph grinned, "What's this about Kofi's sister?"

"N-nothing-" Roman shrugged, "Nothing at all. I mean- she's- like... her name is Tony."

Dolph rolled his eyes, "Yeah, we know that, genius."

Dean nudged him, "Tell them the part where you have a crush on her."

"You have a crush on Tony?" gasped Jey, "Does Kofi know?"

"Of course he don't," Big E shook his head, "If he did, Roman would be dead."

Jimmy laughed, "True. He freaks out if anyone even looks at her that way. Let alone asks her out."

Dean nudged Roman again, "Tell them about how you two went on a date."

The table gasped, "You went on a date?"

Roman shook his head, while Dean nodded with a grin. Everyone chose to believe Dean.

"How the hell did you manage that?" Jimmy frowned, "The first time any of us even met Tony, the first thing he told us was that we weren't allowed to look at her if we wanted to keep our eyes."

"Yeah but she was like, 15 back then," shrugged Dolph.

"18," corrected Roman, "If she's been here three years, she was 18 back then."

Xavier blinked, "Huh?"

"Yep, 18." Dean said loudly, 'cause she's 21 now. So three years ago, she was 18. And now she's _twenty_ _one_." His eyes were wide and his words exaggerated, so as to make sure than no one blew Tony's cover. It took a while, but the intoxicated men finally got it. Jimmy started laughing first.

"Right. Yeah, our math is off."

Roman shook his head at his drunk friends and their bad math skills.

Everyone went back to chatting about inane things while Roman went to get another round of beers. While at the bar, he thought about what Dean had said.

Surely his time with Tony didn't count as a date, right? They were just hanging out, that was all.

Was it a date?

Did she think it was a date?

Should it have been a date?

It didn't count as a date if he never actually asked her out, right?

Should he ask her out?

Roman took out his phone to send a text, but when it took him 6 tries to get through his password, he decided that texting right now probably wouldn't be a good idea. He'd do that tomorrow rather. When he was sober.

That's what he would do. Tomorrow, he'd ask Tony out on a real date. With wine and everything.

And he'd just have to hope that Kofi didn't kill him.


End file.
